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AUTHOR: 


GASPARY.  ADOLF 


TJ  Tl.  F : 


HISTORY  OF 

ITALIAN  LITERATURE 


PL  A  CE : 


LONDON 

DA  TE . 

1901 


COLUMBIA  UNIVEKSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC  MICROFORM  TARGET 


Original  Material  as  Filmed  -  Existing  Bibliographic  Record 


850.9 
G21 


Restrictions  on  Use: 


Gaspary,  Adolf,  1849-1892. 

The  history  of  early  Italian  literature  to  tlie  death  of 
Dante,  traiishited  from  the  German  of  Adolf  Gaspary,  to- 
gether with  the  authors  additions  to  the  Italian  translation 
(1887)  and  with  supplementary  bibliographical  notes  (1887- 
1899)  by  Ilennan  Oelsner  ...  London,  G.  Bell  and  sons, 
1901. 

5  p.  1.,  414  p.    (Half-title:  Bohn's  standard  library) 

**Api)oiKlix  of  l)ll)lloj;raphical  and  critical  notes":  p.  i333j-407. 


1_  Italian   literature— Early  to  1400— Hist.  &  crit. 
Hermann,  1871-         tr. 


I.  Oelsner, 


PQ4010.G35 
Library  of  Congress 


(Continued  on  next  iDaroj" 

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THE  LIBRARIES 


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BOHN'S   STANDARD   LIBRARY 


GASPARY'S   HISTORY  OF   ITALIAN 

LITERATURE 

TO    THE    DEATH    OF    DANTE 


K  .■ 


THE  HISTORY  OF 

EARLY  ITALIAN  LITERATURE 

TO   THE   DEATH   OF   DANTE 


TRANSLATED    FROM    THE    GERMAN 


OF 


GEORGE   BELL  &   SONS 

LONDON  :  YORK  STREET,  COVENT  GARDEN 
NEW  YORK  :  66,  FIFTH  AVENUE,  AND 
BOMBAY:  53,  ESPLANADE  ROAD 
CAMBRIDGE  :      DEIGHTON,      BRT.T.      AND     CO. 


ADOLF  GASPARY 

TOGETHER  WITH  THE  AUTHOR'S  ADDITIONS  TO  THE  ITALIAN 

TRANSLATION   (1887)   AND    WITH    SUPPLEMENTARY 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES  (1887-1899) 


BY 


HERMAN   OELSNER,   M.A.,   Ph.D. 


LONDON 
GEORGE   BELL  AND  SONS 

1901 


t:i 


If 


CHISWICK    PRESS  :— CHARLES   WHITTINGHAM    AND  CO. 
TOOKS  COURT,    CHANCERY    LANE,    LONDON. 


From  the  Librarj  of 

JAN  2  3  1958  ^ 


c9 


rn 


TRANSLATOR'S    PREFACE 


u^  T  is  curious  that  England,  whilst  venerating  Dante, 
J^  should  neglect  every  other  Italian  writer.  The  fasci- 
nating volumes  of  John  Addington  Symonds  have  been 
widely  read  without  arousing  any  marked  interest  in  the  works 
with  which  they  deal.  Perhaps  Dr.  Garnett's  "  Short  History 
of  Italian  Literature  "  is  destined  to  bear  more  lasting  fruit. 
But  in  the  meantime  the  fact  remains  that  Italian  studies — 
Dante  always  excepted — are  at  a  very  low  ebb  in  this 
country.  It  is  difficult  to  assign  an  adequate  reason  for  this 
state  of  things.  Our  educational  and  examining  bodies, 
who  have  always  treated  Italian  in  a  stepmotherly  fashion, 
and  who  have  within  the  last  decade  outdone  themselves 
by  withdrawing  a  measure  of  the  scant  encouragement 
formerly  extended  to  it,  are  perhaps  partly  to  blame.  But 
this  is  not  sufficient  to  account  for  the  general  apathy, 
which  is  probably  due  rather  to  the  circumstance  that  the 
great  importance  of  Italian  literature,  quite  apart  from  its 
intrinsic  beauty,  is  not  recognised  as  it  should  be.  As  soon 
as  students  of  Italian  art  and  of  English  literature — to 
name  only  two  branches  of  general  interest — realise  that 
some  knowledge  of  Italian  literature  is  wellnigh  indispens- 
able to  them,  we  may  expect  to  see  Italian  studies  occupy 
the  honourable  position  to  which  they  are  entitled. 

The  following  pages,  which  represent  only  a  portion  of 
the  first  volume  in  the  original,  have  been  separated  from 
the  rest  as  being  complete  in  themselves.  It  is  hoped  to 
issue  a  translation  of  the  remainder  of  the  work  in  due 
course. 

In  conclusion,  I  have  to  thank  my  friend  and  former 
colleague,  Mr.  A.  W.  Baker  Welford,  M.A.,  of  Lincoln's 
Inn,  for  kindly  assisting  me  in  the  revision  of  the  proofs. 

H,  O. 

December^  1900, 


DEDICATED 

TO 

THE   CHERISHED   MEMORY 

OF 


FRANCESCO    DE    SANCTIS 


b    1*1     li^       nnlllill^liJ' 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER                                                                   '  ,.^t^E 

I.  Medieval  Latin  Literature  in  Italy  from  the 

Fifth  to  the  Thirteenth  Century    ...  i 

IL  The  Sicilian  School  of  Poetry      ....  50 

in.  Lyrical  Poetry  continued  in  Central  Italy      .  75 

IV.  GuiDo  Guinicelli  of  Bologna         ....  99 

V.  The   French   Chivalrous   Poetry   in    Northern 

Italy 108 

VI.  Religious  and  Moral  Poetry  in  Northern  Italy  124 
VII.  Religious  Lyrical  Poetry  in  Umbria    .        .        .138 

[Vin.  Prose  Literature  in  the  Thirteenth  Century  .  159 

IX.  The  Allegorico  -  Didactic  Poetry  and  the 
Philosophical  Lyrics  of  the  new  Florentine 
School 1^2 

X.  Dante's  Life  and  Minor  Works     .        .        .        .220 
XL  The  "Commedia" 289 

Appendix  of  Bibliographical  and  Critical  Notes  333 

Additions  and  Corrections 408 

List  of  Names 409 


f 


HISTORY  OF    EARLY   ITALIAN 

LITERATURE 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN    LITERATURE    IN    ITALY    FROM    THE   FIFTH 
TO   THE   THIRTEENTH    CENTURY 

VXTHEN  the  Germanic  tribes  put  an  end  to  the  Roman 

^  \u  ^""P^rf '  '\  ^^s  "merely  a  shadow  that  they  destroyed. 
But  the  recollection  of  the  mighty  past  imparted  even  to  this 
shadow  an  imposmg  grandeur ;  the  Roman  name  and  the 
mere  idea  of  the  Roman  state  were  so  powerful  that  the  bar- 
barians bowed  before  them,  even  whilst  demolishing  the 
reality.  That  power  lasted  on,  and  unceasingly  influenced 
the  destinies  of  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages-those  of  Italy 
indeed,  till  the  most  recent  times.  Traces  of  the  ancient 
civilisation  still  remained,  however  much  that  civilisation 
itself  was  declining.  In  the  Middle  Ages  a  meagre  classical 
tradition  never  ceased  to  exist,  supplying  in  later  centuries 
the  connecting  link  for  that  revival  of  studies  from  which 
modern  literary  life  takes  its  start. 

When  Odoacer  in  476  had  dethroned  the  last  Roman 
Emperor  of  the  West,  he  did  not  put  himself  in  his  place,  but 
contented  himself  with  the  title  of  Patricius,  making  no 
essential  change  in  the  constitution.  Similarly,  when  Italy 
was  seized  by  the  Ostrogoths,  the  Roman  state  continued  to 
exist  in  name  and  Theodoric  regarded  it  as  the  true  state, 
the  Goths,  indeed,  forming  the  army  and  possessing  the 
Empire  :  it  was  to  be,  however,  not  a  Gothic,  but  the  Roman 
^mpire.  In  this  very  subordination  of  the  real  state  of 
things  to  an  idea  that  had  become  devoid  of  meaning  lay  the 
contradiction  which  involved  the  new  state  in  speedy  ruin 


B 


2        HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Theodoric  was  filled  with  the  same  reverence  for  the  Roman 
civilisation  as  for  the   Roman  state.     Though  he  himselt 
could  not  even  write,  he  fully  recognised  literary  merit,  made 
Cassiodorus   his  minister,  and  loaded  him  with  honours. 
During  his  reign  literature  again  flourished  for  a  short  time. 
Cassiodorus  gave  the  state  documents  an  artistic  form,  and 
did  his  utmost,  by  means  of  his  compendiums,  to  dittuse 
scientific  knowledge  and,  above  all,  to  make  it  the  property 
of  the  monasteries^a  step  that  was  fraught  with  importance 
for  later  ages.     Boethius  summed  up  once  again,  in  a  high 
degree,  the  culture  of  antiquity :  he  wrote  the  last  original 
work  of  classical  philosophy,  the  "  De  Consolatione  Philo- 
sophic," so  popular  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  transmitted  to 
succeeding  generations  the  knowledge  of  a  portion  ot  Hel- 
lenic thought  by  means  of  his  translations  and  commentaries 
of  the  Greek  philosophical  writings,  especially  of  the  logical 
works  of  Aristotle.     Together  with  these  two  authors,  who, 
living  at  the  close  of  the  classical  period,  were  to  exercise  a 
very  considerable  influence  on  the  knowledge  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  others  of  less  importance  appear,  such  as  Ennodius, 
who  at  least  preserved  fairly  intact  the  purity  of  the  classical 

The  short  period  of  Greek  domination  which  followed  was, 
in  c:68,  put  an  end  to  by  the  Lombards  in  the  greater  part  of 
Italy.     These  acted  diff"erently  to  the  other  German  tribes 
that  had  hitherto  appeared.     Coming  as  conquerors,  they 
raged  in  the  subjected  lands  with  cruelty  and  covetousness, 
levelled  towns  to  the  ground,  turned  fruitful  districts  into 
deserts,  sold  Roman  captives  into  slavery,  and,  as  Anans, 
spared  neither  churches  nor  priests.    And  as  the  subjugation 
of  the  land  was  eff'ected  gradually  and  never  completely,  this 
wild  and  warlike  state  of  affairs  lasted  for  centuries.    In  the 
conquered  districts  the  Roman  nationality  ceased  to  exist, 
the  conquered  being  degraded  to  the  condition  of  half-freed- 
men  and  of  slaves.    As  these  came  to  mingle  more  and  more 
with  the  conquerors,  a  new  Italian  nationality  arose.     Once 
more  Roman  civilisation  proved  its  power:    even  the  Lom- 
bards came  under  its  influence,  especially  after  they  had  been 
converted  to  the  Catholic  faith.     They  adopted  the  habits 
of  the  Romans,  their  costumes  and  their  manners  ;  the  con- 
querors learnt  the  language  of  the  conquered,  drew  up  in  it 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN   LITERATURE  3 

their  laws,  niade  use  of  it  for  public  documents  and  religious 
services  and  at  a  later  period,  even  showed  interest  in  and 
ability  for  the  pursuit  of  learned  studies.  They,  for  their 
part,  bestowed  on  those  they  had  vanquished  even  more 

ITthT  S^^^r""^-^??^^'  ^^^^"^'  ^"d  ^  ^^"^^  «f  liberty,  and! 
with  these,  the  possibility  of  a  fresh  national  development 

Frequently  the  conquered  were  restored   to   liberty^  thus 
coming  to  possess  the  same  rights  as  the  Lombards;  the 
many  struggles  at  home  gave  them  the  opportunity  of  attain- 
ing,  by  dint  of  courage,  to  honours  and  riches,  while  their 
common  religious  faith  and  frequent  intermarriages  bound 
together  more  and  more  closely  the  elements  that  had  at  first 
been  so  hostile  to  each  other.     Hence  the  Lombards,  when 
their  empire  came  to  an  end,  had  nothing  foreign  about 
them   save   their  name,  as  Villani  (ii.  9)  and,  after   him 
Machiavelli  have  remarked.     They  have  becomf  Italia"' 
and  remained  an  integral  element  of  the  nation,  and  the 
descendants  of  the  Lombard  stock  played  in  late    ages  an 

important  part  in  the  political  and  intellectual  Kf  the 
country. 

Itl^Lfh^.f'^''^^^.^'''''^^  ^'"'^^^'^  '^°'^  portions  of 
Italy  that  had  remained  Roman  and  those  that  were  occupied 

by  the  Germans,  were  more  and  more  equahsed.     In  this 

period  of  anarchy  when  everything  depended  on  the  sword 

t^lT''"  f"^'  ^''^  degenerated  in  the  time  of  the  Emperore 
again  began  to  carry  arms.  A  national  militia  took  the  place 
of  the  mercenanes,  and  the  military  element,  which  contri- 
tZdedZ  'r"^"^  '°  '^'  preservation  of  'the  state  was 
eZr  for  InH  %TT'  P'^""-  ^^"  ^"-"^"^  ^g^i"  became 
cons  ant  V  f-"  T''-  ^"™"nded  by  barbarians,  and 

constantly  engaged  in  keeping  them  at  bay,  thev  became 

Sett"'  ''r;t'"  ^''^^ '•^^  °ld  constitutions'and  d'ss 
distinctions  had  been  suppressed,  the  upper  and  lower 
nobihty  „ere  formed  from  the  ranks  of  the  soldierjand  thdr 
leaders,  as  was  done  among  the  Germans.  And  with  the  dis- 
appearance of  the  national  distinctions  in  manners  and  cul 
Zfi^  ""^  ^''™^'^  ^"^  ^  P°'"''^al  "ni°n  of  the  country, 

come  to  n,r'  ^^  t- V°^^  P°^^'  ^^'""^  "ould  not  let  this 
thTl  i^  '  "*^  r^"'''  ^'"^y*  took  fresh  steps  to  oppose 
thattof^r'p'  °^  ^  %T"S'y  organised  state-the  power! 
that  IS,  of  the  Papacy.    The  Bishop  of  Rome  owed  his  privi- 


4         HISTORY   OF    EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

leged  position  to  the  importance  of  the  city  as  the  former 
centre  of  the  Empire ;  his  political  influence  was  mcreased 
by  the  fact  that  the  sovereign,  the  Greek  Emperor,  lived  far 
from  Rome,  and  was  possessed  of  no  power.    From  the  time 
of  Gregory  the  Great  (590-604)  the  Pope  became  the  true 
ruler  of  Rome.     The  prohibition  of  the  worship  of  images, 
and  the  troubles  that  consequently  arose  in  Italy  (7 26),  com- 
pletely severed   the   connection  with  Constantinople,  and 
made  the  Pope  independent.     The  spread  of  Christianity 
among  all  the  Germanic  tribes  caused  him  to  be  universally 
regarded  in  the  West  as  the  Supreme  Head  of  the  Christian 
Church  ;  and  Italy,  which  had  lost  her  supremacy  in  politics, 
regained  it  in  matters  of  religion.     However  much  Rome 
may  have  been  declining  outwardly,  she   maintained    her 
lofty,  ideal  importance  for  mankind— she  was  the  Holy  City. 
But  the  price  Italy  had  to  pay  for  this  spiritual  supremacy 
was  the  fluctuation  of  her  political  destinies.     The  Popes, 
seeing  their  independence  threatened  by  the  Lombard  Kings, 
called  in  the  Frankish  Kings,  whose  supremacy  appeared  to 
them  less  oppressive  because  it  was  far  removed.     Charles 
the  Great  destroyed  the  empire  of  the  Lombards  (774),  and 
subjected  the  country  to  his  own  sway.     When  Leo  III. 
crowned  him  Emperor  in  the  year  800,  he  thought  that,  by 
doing  so,  he  was  merely  renewing  the  Roman  Empire,  which, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Popes,  continued  to  exist  in  the  abstract, 
as  the  Power  that  ruled  the  world,  dispensing  justice  and 
protecting  the  Church— an  Empire,  the  existence  of  which 
had  only  been  interrupted,  not  ended,  by  the  invasions,  and 
the  idea  of  which  was  now  realised  anew  in  the  shape  of  the 
Frankish  Kings.     This  conception  of  the  Empire  as  a  con- 
tinuation or  restoration  of  the  Roman  universal  monarchy 
reigned  supreme  till  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

The  long-enduring  and  terrible  struggles  which  followed  the 
downfall  of  the  Lombards  soon  destroyed  the  literary  life 
that  had  begun  to  flourish  again  under  the  Ostrogoth  dynasty, 
and  a  period  of  general  confusion  set  in.  Weightier  cares 
drove  from  men's  minds  all  thoughts  of  poetry  and  philosophy. 
Added  to  this,  there  came  religious  fanaticism.  Though 
the  Fathers  of  the  Church  had,  in  the  early  ages  of  persecu- 
tion, violently  opposed  Pagan  art  and  literature  as  works  of 
the  devil,  they  became  reconciled  to  them  when  Christianity 


MEDIEVAL  LATIN   LITERATURE  5 

won  the  day,  and  the  Church  herself  made  use  of  classical 
culture  as  an  instrument  with  which  to  rule  the  world     The 
Chnstian  ideas  were  expressed  in  the  ancient  artistic  forms 
and  in  many  writers  a  veritable  mingling  of  Christian  and 
Pagan   elements  may  be  remarked.     Ennodius,   who  was 
Bishop  of  Pavia,  and  author  of  hymns,  did  not  scruple  to 
speak  of  Venus  and  Cupid  in  epithalamia,  panegyrics  and 
epigrams,  seeing  that  classical  mythology  had  becorne  merelv 
a  rhetoncal  ornament,  and  that  people  had  grown  accus- 
^med  to  putting  an  allegorical  interpretation  on  its  figures. 
This  state  of  things  was  changed  under  Gregory  the  Great 
who  was  hostile,  or,  at  any  rate,  not  favourably  disposed  to 
Pagan  learning.     Some  sayings  of  his  that  have  often  been 
quoted  even  testify  to  the  greatest  contempt  for  the  rules  of 
grammar.     This    however,  was  mere  momentary  exaggera- 
tion on  his  part,  for  he  was  not  without  culture,  nor,  cer^inly 
was  he  filled  with  such  a  blind  passion  for  destroying  the 
relics  of  antiquity  as  was,  later  on,  imputed  to  him.    Still  the 
fact  remains  that,  at  that  time  and  for  long  after,  it  was  just 

On  r'  T'  u'  r''  ^^^'''  ^S"^^^"^^  '  ^ig-^d  supreme 
On  the  other  hand,  in  the  eighth  century,  scientific  studies 
found  a  home  among  the  Lombards.  Their  last  Kings 
bestowed  honours  and  gifts  on  grammarians  and  artists. 
Paulus  Diaconus,  the  son  of  Warnefrid,  of  a  noble  family  of 
Friuli,  was  a  Lombard,  who  occupied  an  important  position 
at  the  court  of  Desiderius  at  Pavia,  and  subsequently  under 
the  protection  of  Arichis,  Duke  of  Benevento,  and  of  his  wife, 
Adelperga  Desidenus's  daughter.  He  wrote  his  Roman 
History  at  the  instigation  of  the  latter,  who  is  extolled  by  him 
for  her  acquaintance  with  poets,  philosophers  and  historians. 
Later  he  entered  the  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino,  which  he 

rt  ?'  "o  7  ^^^'l  ^^^'^  ^"^y  ^^  ^^^  ^i^h  of  Charles  the 
Great.  Paulus  and  another  Italian,  the  grammarian  Peter 
of  Pisa  who  taught  at  Pavia,  belonged  to  those  scholars 
whom  the  Emperor  attracted  to  his  court,  so  that  they  might 
serve  as  instruments  in  the  revival  of  studies  on  which  he 
was  bent.  Here,  at  the  Emperor's  court,  Paulus  Diaconus 
aroused  great  admiration  by  the  extent  of  his  knowledge, 
which  embraced  the  Greek  tongue,  and  by  the  elegance  of 
his  verses.  Thus  some  of  his  poems  (such  as  the  im- 
passioned petition  for  his  captive  brother,  the  distichs  on  the 


'S-ftS^^sHt-V     .«^9P%,, 


6         HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Lake  of  Como,  the  religious  mood  of  which  is  mingled  with 
a  feeling  for  the  beauty  of  nature,  or  the  three  fables),  are  not 
lacking  in  poetic  charm.  His  most  important  work,  the 
"  History  of  the  Lombards,"  Paulus  wrote  after  he  had 
returned  to  the  peaceful  life  of  the  monastery  of  Monte 

Cassino. 

The  revival  of  scientific  studies  through  Charles  the 
Great,  in  which  Italy  also  took  part,  suffered  by  reason 
of  its  purely  religious  tendency.  The  so-called  liberal  arts 
of  the  Trivium  and  Quadrivium  were  regarded  only  as  aids 
to  the  study  of  theology,  and  the  classics  were  read  chiefly 
with  a  view  to  arriving  at  a  better  understanding  of  the 
Holy  Scripture  by  reason  of  a  closer  acquaintance  with 
the  language.  Besides,  these  tendencies  of  the  great 
Emperor  were  personal  and  not  supported  by  a  general 
current  of  popular  feeling,  nor  were  they  continued  by  his 
successors.  His  work  was  consequently  not  permanent  in 
its  results.  The  schools,  concerning  the  erection  of  which 
in  Florence  and  other  towns  of  Northern  Italy  Lothair  I. 
passed  a  decree  in  the  "  Constitutiones  Olonnenses"  (825), 
were  intended  only  for  the  education  of  priests.  In  the 
following  year  Pope  Eugene  II.  made  a  similar  order  for 
the  Roman  province,  in  which  he  required,  as  Charles  the 
Great  had  done,  that  the  instruction  in  the  liberal  arts 
should  be  carried  on  hand  in  hand  with  theology;  but  in 
the  ratification  of  the  edict  by  Leo  IV.  (853)  it  is  con- 
firmed only  for  sacred  instruction,  on  the  ground  that  no 
teachers  could  be  found  for  the  liberal  arts,  which,  however, 
does  not  imply  the  cessation  of  grammatical  instruction 
generally.  The  growing  disorder  in  the  state  in  the  second 
half  of  the  ninth  and  the  first  half  of  the  tenth  centuries 
could  not  fail  to  increase  the  intellectual  stagnation.  The 
Saracens  invaded  the  country  from  x\frica,  conquered  Sicily 
(from  828),  ravaged  the  coasts  of  the  mainland,  and,  advanc- 
ing as  far  as  Rome,  plundered  the  churches  of  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul.  The  importance  of  the  emperors  had  decreased 
already  under  Lothair,  and  still  more  under  Lewis  II.,  with 
whom  the  line  of  Carolingians  ruling  in  Italy  terminated 
(875).  Thereupon  the  most  pernicious  political  influences 
began  to  make  themselves  felt.  The  Popes  and  the  nobles 
of  the  land  could  not  brook  the  growth  of  a  mighty  power 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN    LITERATURE  7 

in  the  state.    In  order  to  be  able  to  maintain  their  independ- 
ence or  to  pursue  ambitious  projects,  they  called  in  a  distant 
ruler  agamst  the  one  that  was  present  in  their  midst,  and  on 
his  gammg  the  upper  hand,  they  saw  themselves  threatened 
by  a  new  one,  and  called  in  yet  another,  so  that  there  was 
no  end  to  turmoil  and  faction  :  semper  Italienses  geminis  uti 
domtnis  volunt,  quatinus  alterum  alterius  terrore  coerceant 
wrote  the  penetrating  historian  Liutprand  (*'  Antapod."  i.  ^6)' 
This  is  followed  by  the  struggles  of  the  German  and  French 
Carolingians  for  the  Italian   crown ;    by   the  unsuccessful 
efforts  to  found  a  native  kingdom,  made  by  Guido  and 
Lambert  of  Spoleto,  and  by  Berengar  of  Friuli,  who  had 
to  hght  against  Lewis  of  Provence  and  Rudolph  of  Upper 
Burgundy ;   and   by  the  somewhat  longer  rule  of  Count 
Hugo  of  Provence,  who  was  in  his  turn  supplanted  by  the 
Margrave  Berengar  of  Ivrea.     At  length,  in  962,  Otto  the 
Great  united  the  empire  and  the  Italian  kingdom  with  the 
empire  of  Germany.     During  these  struggles  for  the  crown 
me  baraceris  of  Spain  became  masters  of  the  district  of 
l^rassineto  in  Liguria,  while  those  of  Sicily  settled  on  the 
banks  of  the  Garigliano  and  again  infested  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Rome.     Meanwhile,  Lombardy  was  ravaged  by  the 
Hunganans,  who,  in  994,  burnt  Pavia.     It  was  only  tempor- 
arily that  the  Papal  power  increased  through  the  decline  of 
that  of  the  Emperor ;  it  had  thereby  deprived  itself  of  its 
protection,  and  degenerated  in  its  own  city  into  a  degrading 
state  of  deperidence,  becoming  the  tool  of  parties,  threatened 
by  the  infidels  and  by  the  powerful  nobles  of  Italv      The 
person  of  the  Chief  Pontiff  lost  its  sanctity,  and  the  history 
of  that  age  is  full  of  cases  of  deposition  and  captivity,  of 
terrible  ill-treatment  and  murder  to  which  the  popes  were 
exposed.     The  period  of  the  deepest  humiliation  was  the 
hrst  third  of  the  tenth  century,  when  courtesans  of  high 
rank,    the    senator's    wife   Theodora,   and    her    daughters 
Marozia  and  the  younger  Theodora,  disposed  of  the  Papal 
chair  at  their  pleasure,  and  filled  it  with  their  tools,  their 
lovers    and  their  natural   sons.     At   the   same  time,    the 
angry  feeling  against  the  priestly  rule  began  to  make  itself 
felt  among  the  Roman  people,  as  well  as  the  patriotic  pride 
which  was  kindled  by  misty  conceptions  of  antiquity  and  by 
vague  recollections  of  former  greatness.     Alberic,  the  son 


►(iisjmimT*-!^^*": 


8         HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

of  Marozia,  already  made  use  of  these  feelings  of  the 
Romans,  when  he  stirred  them  up  against  King  Hugo,  and 
set  up  in  the  city  a  completely  secular  and  aristocratic 
republic,  at  the  head  of  which  he  placed  himself  with  the 
title  of  Princeps  et  Senator  omnium  Roma?iorum^  leaving 
to  the  Popes  nothing  but  the  spiritual  power  (932-954). 
And  so  there  was,  till  the  appearance  of  Otto  the  Great, 
no  power  in  Italy  which  would  have  been  able  to  check 
the  prevailing  anarchy. 

However,  even  in  this  wretched  period  of  Italian  history, 
it  is  still  possible  to  follow  the  traces  of  a  scientific  and 
literary  tradition.  The  study  to  which  the  Italians  were 
always  especially  addicted,  and  which  they  never  entirely 
neglected,  was  that  of  grammar,  which  was  regarded  as  the 
basis  and  starting-point  of  all  intellectual  culture :  ratio  et 
origo  et  fundamentum  omnium  artiutn  liberalium  it  was 
called  by  Hilderic  of  Monte  Cassino,  a  pupil  of  Paulus 
Diaconus,  in  the  first  half  of  the  ninth  century.'  Names  of 
grammarians  are  also  preserved  from  the  ninth  and  tenth 
centuries,  and  the  existence  of  schools  intended  for  this 
study  cannot  be  doubted.  As  people  wrote,  and  on  all 
public  occasions  spoke,  a  tongue,  namely,  Latin,  that  was 
becoming  more  and  more  a  dead  language,  some  grammatical 
instruction  was  indispensable.  This  was,  it  is  true,  restricted 
to  what  was  absolutely  essential,  to  imparting  a  scanty,  life- 
less, and  pedantic  knowledge  ;  but  it  had,  at  least,  the  merit 
of  preserving  by  a  slender  thread  the  classical  tradition ; 
and  of  transmitting  the  names  of  the  authors  and  a  super- 
ficial acquaintance  with  their  works,  which  people  read  in 
the  schools  without  grasping  their  spirit."  The  Italians  of 
that  time  were  so  much  taken  up  with  the  language  and 
perusal  of  the  ancient  poets,  that  they  neglected  all  other 
studies,  especially  that  of  theology,  which  was  the  real 
science  of  the  time,  and  in  which  they  were  behind  the 
other  nations.  The  theological  scholars  who  taught  and 
wrote  in  Italy,  such  as  Ratherius  of  Verona  or  Hatto  of 
Vercelli,  were  foreigners.     Soon  pious  men  begin  to  com- 

^  Tosti,  "Storia  della  Badia  di  Monte-Cassino,"  i.  280.     Napoli, 

1S42. 
'^  Cf.  Comparetti,  "Virgilio  ncl  Medio  Evo,"  i.  ic»,  104.     Livorno, 

1872. 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN   LITERATURE  9 

plain  of  those  that  devote  themselves  entirely  to  secular 
and  pagan  science,  discard  divinity,  and  prefer  the  fables 
of  antiquity   to   sacred  history.      The   French  chronicler, 
Radulphus  Glaber,  tells,  under  the  year  1000  ("Histori- 
arum,"  lib.  ii.,  cap.  12),  of  a  certain  Vilgardus  at  Ravenna, 
who  had  devoted  himself  entirely  to  the  study  of  grammar, 
"as,  indeed,  it  was  always  customary  among  the  Italians  to 
neglect  the  other  arts,  and  cultivate  only  that  one  "  :  demons 
had  then  appeared  to  him  one  night  in  the  shapes  of  Virgil, 
Horace,  and  Juvenal,  thanked  him  for  devoting  such  loving 
care  to  their  works,  and  for  spreading  their  fame,  and  pro- 
mised him  that  he  would  share  in  the  latter.      This  had 
made  him  proud,   so  that  he  had  taught  many  doctrines 
against  Christianity,  and  had  maintained  that  absolute  cred- 
ence must  be  given  to  the  words  of  the  poets.     Finally,  he 
had  been  condemned  by  the  Bishop  Peter  as  a  heretic. 
"Then,"  closes  the  chronicler,  "others  appeared  in  Italy 
who  shared  in  this  fearful  error,  and  likewise  met  their  death 
by  fire  or  sword."     From  this  it  appears  that  some  were 
already  filled  with  a  passionate  idolatry  for  antiquity,  which 
was  persecuted  by  the  Church  as  dangerous.     But  the  best 
testimony  to  the  continuance  of  these  studies  in  Italy  is  sup- 
plied by  two  literary  productions,  a  poem  and  a  history,  which 
are  entirely  imbued  with  their  spirit.     The  Panegyric  on 
the  Emperor  Berengar  by  a  poet  who  remains  anonymous, 
but  was  undoubtedly  a  Lombard,  and  who  describes  himself 
in  the  prologue  as  being  but  one  of  many  who  then  devoted 
themselves  to  the  art  of  poetry,  was  written  during  the  life- 
time of  its  hero,  that  is,  between  the  years  914  and  924.    In 
hexameters  that  are  not  unskilful  and  mostly  correct,  though 
the  style  is  frequently  laboured   and  obscure,  the   author 
celebrates  the  emperor  as  a  hero  of  antiquity ;  he  quotes 
Homer  and  Virgil,  everywhere  imitates  the  classical  epics  in 
invocations,  similes,  descriptions  and  speeches,  and  even 
inserts  into  his  poem  verses  and  longer  passages,  which  are 
literally  borrowed  from  Virgil,  Statius,  and  Juvenal.     We 
also  find  here  already  that  ostentatious  show  of  Greek  words 
so  frequent  among  the  Latin  poets  of  the  Middle  Ages  j  the 
whole  poem  bears  a  Greek   superscription.'     An   equally 

^  E.  DUmmler,  "Gesta  Berengarii  Imperatoris. "    Halle,  1871. 


gM&ji^SSy«yHi£S^!ianiB 


*%«'^fi*sr*» '•*■■«'«*«#>£  - 


10      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

surprising  knowledge  of  the  classical  authors  is  displayed  by 
the  somewhat  later  historian  Liutprand  (d.  in  972  as  Bishop 
of  Cremona),  who  described  the  storms  and  crimes  of  those 
wild  times  with  the  sharp  eye  of  a  man  of  the  world,  and 
with  a  keen  sense  of  actuality.  In  his  principal  work,  which 
narrates  the  events  from  888  till  950,  he  now  and  again, 
and  sometimes  at  the  most  unsuitable  passages,  changes 
over  from  prose  to  verse  in  various  metres,  following  in  this 
the  example  of  Boethius's  "Consolatio."  He,  too,  likes  to 
quote  pieces  of  the  old  poets,  mingled  with  sayings  from  the 
Bible,  knows  classical  history  and  mythology,  gives  things 
their  classical  names  (always,  for  example,  calling  the  Saracens 
of  Africa  Poeni),  everywhere  parades  his  knowledge  of  Greek, 
which  he  had  acquired  at  Constantinople  on  the  occasion  of 
his  frequent  embassies,  and  likewise  gives  his  book  a  Greek 
title,  " Antapodosis "  ("Repayment"),  as  his  history  was  to 
be  a  judgment  of  his  enemies,  Berengar  of  Ivrea  and  his 
wife  Willa/ 

While  the  panegyric  on  Berengar  and  the  writings  of 
Liutprand  represent  the  efforts  of  the  schools,  we  have  a 
remarkable  remnant  of  the  popular  poetry  of  this  period  in 
the  rough  poem  which  relates  and  laments  the  capture  of  the 
Emperor  Lewis  11.  by  Adalgisus,  the  ruler  of  Benevento 
(871).  The  verse  is  the  trochaic  catalectic  tetrameter  of  the 
Roman  soldier-songs,  but  treated  almost  throughout  as  a 
rythmical  (accentuated)  verse,  and  even  as  such  not  regularly  : 

Audite  omnes  fines  terroe  errore  (1.  horrore?)  cum  tristitia, 
Quale  scelus  fuit  factum  Benevento  civitas. 
Ludhuicum  comprenderunt  sancto,  pio,  augusto, 
Beneventani  se  adunarunt  ad  unum  consilium  .   .   .   .  *^ 

In  the  endings  of  the  words,  in  the  use  of  the  cases  with- 
out flexional  distinctions,  in  the  employment  of  the  pronouns 

*  Migne,  '*  Patrologia,"  Ser.  Lat.,  t.  136.  The  Sapphic  Carmen  on 
the  Bishop  Adalhard  of  Verona  (cf.  Diimmler,  1.  c,  p.  134  ff.)  shows 
how  skilfully  writers  could  still  handle  the  classical  metres. 

^  Du  Meril,  '*  Poesies  populaires  anterieures  au  XII®  siecle,"  Paris, 
1843,  p.  264  ff.  It  is  a  carmen  alphabet i aim ^  that  is  to  say,  each 
section  of  three  verses  begins  with  a  letter  according  to  the  order  of  the 
alphabet.  This  proves  that  the  poem  has  come  down  incomplete,  and 
that  the  last  two  verses,  which  begin  with  a  J,  are  out  of  their  place, 
and  should  come  at  the  close  of  the  emperor's  speech. 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN   LITERATURE 


II 


and  numerals  as  articles  and  the  like,  the  language  is  already 
Italian  in  many  respects,  though  Italian  used  but  cautiously 
as  yet.    At  any  rate  it  is  clear  that  Latin,  though  no  longer  the 
speech  of  everyday  life,  was  still  understood  without  difficulty 
by  the   people  in  this   deteriorated  and  vulgarised  form. 
Still,   it  is  doubtful  whether  we  are  therefore  justified  in 
assuming  the  existence  in  these  early  times  of  a  rich  litera- 
ture of  Latin  popular   poetry   now   lost,  as   some   literary 
historians  have  done.     The  other  poem  which  is  generally 
quoted  as  a  relic  of  this  literature,   the  Summons  to  the 
defenders  of  Modena  to  maintain  vigilance  when  the  town 
was  besieged  by  the  Hungarians  (924) '  has  already  a  very 
different  character,  and  testifies  to  no  slight  culture  on  the 
part  of  the  author,  in  thought  and  form.     In  other  writings 
people  have  thought  they  recognised  the  traces  of  old  epic 
songs.     In  the  first  half  of  the  eleventh  century,  a  monk 
of  Novalese,  at  the  foot  of  Mont  Cenis,  wrote  in  barbarous 
Latin  the  history  of  the  monastery,  and  introduced  into  his 
childishly  simple  account  all  kinds  of  legendary  traits.^   Here 
we  find  the  history  of  Walter  of  Aquitaine,  which  is  for  the 
greater  part  borrowed  from  the  Latin  poem  written  in  Ger- 
many, but  contains  additions  concerning  the  later  years  of 
the  hero,  his  entry  into  the  monastery  of  Novalese,  where  he 
fills  the  humble  office  of  gardener,  the  re-awakening  of  his 
old  love  of  war,  when  the  monastery  is  pillaged  by  the 
soldiers  of  King  Desiderius,  and  the  terrible  injuries   he 
mflicts  on  his  enemies  with  a  stirrup  and  the  bone  of  a  calf, 
for  want  of  other  arms.     We  are  told  of  Charles  the  Great 
and  the  end  of  the  Lombard  rule,  of  Charles's  victory  over 
the  robber  Eberardus,  of  the  Lombard  minstrel  who,  dancing 
and  singing  before  the  King  of  the  Franks,  offers  to  point 
out  to   him  the  safe   approach   into   the   country,  of  the 
treachery  and  death  of  the  daughter  of  Desiderius,  of  the 
gigantic  Algisus  (Adelchi),  who  on  horseback  lays  low  his 
enemies  with  an  iron  club,  the  rings  on  whose  arms  touch 
Charles's  shoulders,  and  who,  at  table,  crushes  the  bones 
and  swallows  the  marrow  like  a  lion.     These  tales  of  the 
monk   are  without   doubt   based   on   living   tradition   and 
testify  to  the  existence  of  popular  legends  in  Northern  Italy ; 

*  Du  Meril,  *'  Poesies  populaires  anterieures  au  XII®  siecle,"  p.  268  ff. 
'•  Chronicon  Novaliciense,  Monumenta  Germaniae,"  Script,  vii.  73. 


aaBiia^-ia-^--«Jafa-^a--'g-°fe^^j^iafl^^  .^.^.^.„~ 


-  J^'''%v»*t»"  "^'  " 


12       HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

but  whether  these  were  ever  clothed  in  poetic  form,  and,  if 
so,  in  what  language,  we  do  not  know. 

With  the  eleventh  century  begins  a  revolution  in  the 
intellectual  life  of  Italy.  The  political  relations  enter  again 
into  a  more  settled  state.  It  is  true  that  the  union  of  the 
nation  is  not  effected,  but  in  its  stead  the  power  of  the  com- 
munes develops  together  with  the  fertilising  action  of  liberty, 
and  with  the  want  of  a  more  able  administration  of  the 
state — a  want  that  rouses  the  intellectual  faculties  of  the 
citizens.  The  conflict  for  great  interests,  the  struggle  be- 
tween Emperor  and  Pope,  violently  moves  men's  minds,  and 
calls  for  intellectual  weapons.  The  conquest  of  Sicily  by 
the  Normans,  the  sea-fights  of  the  Pisans  and  Genoese, 
and  the  expeditions  to  the  East  bring  Christendom  into 
closer  contact  with  the  Mussulmans  and  make  them  ac- 
quainted with  their  civilisation. 

Through  the  efforts  of  Otto  the  Great  Italy  was  again 
united  under  one  sceptre,  but  without  enjoying  political  in- 
dependence ;  the  imperial  crown  and  the  kingdom  of  Italy 
belonged  to  Germany,  and  Italy,  which  was  nominally  the 
ruling  country,  was  in  reality  a  subject  province.  This  con- 
tinued to  be  the  lasting  contradiction  between  the  old 
idea  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  the  actual  state  of  affairs. 
The  young  Emperor  Otto  III.  wished  to  put  an  end  to 
this.  Filled  with  the  notions  of  classical  literature  into 
which  he  had  been  initiated  by  his  master  Gerbert,  and  at 
the  same  time  burning  with  religious  ardour,  he  determined 
to  make  the  Roman  Empire  really  what  its  name  implied, 
and  to  take  up  his  residence  in  Rome ;  but  he  soon  died, 
and  none  of  his  successors  was  inclined  to  take  up  again  his 
fantastic  plan.  In  the  meantime  the  distant  empire  was 
not  able  to  check  for  any  length  of  time  the  aspirations  of  the 
nobles.  The  Emperor  was  perhaps  respected  when  close  at 
hand ;  but  as  soon  as  he  returned  to  Germany,  the  princes, 
bishops  and  towns  pursued  their  own  interests.  In  opposi- 
tion to  Henry  II.,  a  native  King,  Hardouin  of  Ivrea,  was  set 
up.  Finally,  all  the  elements  hostile  to  the  Empire  became 
centred  in  the  Pope.  In  Rome  the  old  causes  of  discontent 
went  on  with  few  interruptions — the  power  over  the  Papal 
See  exercised  by  the  Counts  of  Tusculum,  the  descendants 
of  the  family  of  Alberic,  the  immorality  of  the  Popes  and 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN    LITERATURE 


13 


the  deposition  of  and  opposition  to  several  that  had  been 
elected.    At  last  Henry  III.  dealt  firmly  with  this  net-work 
of  impure  passions,  set  up  four  German  Popes  one  after  an- 
other, freed  the  Papal  See  from  party  influences,  and  re- 
served for  the  Emperor  the  right  of  taking  part   in    the 
elections  of  the  Popes  and  of  confirming  them.     It  was, 
however,  just  by  these  means  that  the  foundations  of  the 
momentous  struggle  between  the  spiritual  and  secular  powers 
were  laid.     With  the  recovery  of  her  dignity,  the  Church 
gained  more  and  more  authority,  and  began  to  strive  for 
coniplete  independence,  and  then  for  the  rule  of  the  world. 
This  movement  was  led  by  Hildebrand,  as  counsellor  of 
Leo  IX.  (from  1059)  and  of  his  successors,  and  was  con- 
tinued by  him  as  Pope  Gregory  VII.  (1073— 1085).     The 
bonds  which  linked  the  clergy  to  the  world  and  made  them 
serve   its   interests,    were  loosened   by  the   prohibition   of 
simony,  of  the  marriage  of  priests  and  of  lay  investitures, 
and   by   conferring   on    the   cardinals   alone   the   right   of 
choosing  the  Pope,  without  any  interference  on  the  part 
of  Emperor   or   people.      By   thus   freeing  and   secluding 
herself,  the  Church  raised  herself  above  all  worldly  power, 
which   could   not    be   anything  without  her   consecration] 
and  could  lawfully  exist  only  through  her  instrumentality. 
Innovations   of  such   harshness,    an   undertaking   of  such 
gigantic  boldness,  at  first  met  with  the  most  violent  oppo- 
sition even  in  Italy  itself;   and  yet  the  ideal  of  Gregory 
and  his  successors  was  deeply  rooted  in  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  the  Italian  people.     Through  it  the  Papacy  in- 
herited the  Roman  idea  of  a  world  monarchy  which  men's 
minds  could  not  get  rid  of;   first  this  monarchy  appeared 
to  be  renewed  in  the  shape  of  the  Empire,  and  now  the 
Papacy  and  Empire  fought  for  its  possession  the  fiercest 
battle  of  the  Middle  Ages.     However,  the  Pope's  was  a 
spiritual  power.    He  would  not  suffer  the  growth  of  a  power- 
ful foreign  rule  in  Italy,  but  at  the  same  time  he  himself 
could  not  become  the  sovereign  of  the  country,  nor  could 
he  do  anything  beyond  keeping  up  the  incessant  factions 
and  struggles.     In  his  most  immediate  neighbourhood  his 
authority  was  least  respected :  at  Rome  he  was  not  able  to 
combat  the  intrigues  of  the  nobles  and  the  rebeUions  of  the 
people.     The  mighty  Gregory  himself,  whose  word  shook 


14     HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

the  world,  was  forced  to  fly  from  the  city  owing  to  the  state 
of  revolt,  and  to  die  in  exile.  With  the  help  of  their  secular 
allies,  the  Popes  succeeded  in  breaking  the  power  of  the 
Emperors  in  Italy ;  but  they  did  not  supplant  them,  did  not 
attain  the  desired  supremacy  for  any  length  of  time,  nor  in- 
deed ever  entirely,  but  were  themselves  finally  overcome  by 
other  temporal  rulers. 

Out  of  the  decline  of  the  imperial  power  arose  a  new 
political  organism,  that  of  the  free  communes,  which  dis- 
played an  abundance  of  strength  and  vigour,  and  in  which 
were  laid  the  foundations  of  the  first  great  period  of  Italian 
literature  and  art,  but  which  contained,  at  the  same  time,  in 
their  isolation  and  their  municipal  egoism,  the  germs  of  cor- 
ruption. The  free  commune,  as  opposed  to  the  feudal 
system,  the  prevailing  form  of  constitution  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  appeared  in  Italy  earlier  than  in  any  other  European 
country.  In  the  period  of  anarchy  in  the  ninth  and  tenth 
centuries,  during  the  endless  struggles  for  the  throne  and  the 
invasions  of  the  Saracens  and  Hungarians,  the  towns  began 
to  acquire  greater  importance;  their  walls  offered  secure 
shelter,  and  they  became  a  refuge  for  the  remnants  of  civili- 
sation, for  industry  and  commerce.  Slowly  and  secretly  was 
formed  the  independent  constitution  of  the  community  ;  its 
representatives,  probably  derived  from  the  institution  of  the 
sheriffs  (Judices)  of  the  old  German  law,  kept  on  extending 
their  authority,  and  gradually  transferred  to  themselves  the 
magisterial  rights  from  the  counts  and  bishops  who  had 
exercised  them. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century  most  of  the  towns 
of  Lombardy  were  in  full  possession  of  their  liberty.  At 
their  head  were  magistrates,  who  bore  the  title  of  consuls  ; 
and,  in  addition  to  these,  a  council  of  distinguished  men  and 
the  assembly  of  the  citizens  {FarlaTnentum)^  summoned  only 
in  exceptional  cases,  took  part  in  the  government.  The  office 
of  the  consuls  was  not  everywhere  the  same,  their  number 
varying  (between  five  and  twenty),  as  also  their  term  of  oflSce 
(generally  a  year) ;  but  everywhere  the  use  of  this  classical 
name  testifies  to  the  completion  of  the  new  constitution,  and 
to  the  consciousness  of  its  independence.  The  Italian  com- 
mune did  not  spring  from  the  municipality  of  ancient  Rome, 
and  so  the  name  of  its  magistrate  did  not  rest  on  an  old 


MEDIEVAL  LATIN   LITERATURE  15 

tradition.  However  the  communes,  in  the  form  they  had 
now  assumed,  recalled  the  old  Roman  republic,  which  was 
present  to  men's  minds  as  the  ideal  of  liberty  and  power,  and 
which  It  was  hoped  to  revive  also  in  that  name. 

In  this  way  the  classical  ideas  everywhere  influenced  the 
political  developments  of  Italy,  the  empire,  the  papacy,  and 
the  municipalities ;  everywhere,  in  spite  of  the  great  differ- 
ences, there  was  felt  to  be  a  link  with  the  ancient  state  of 
things,  and  as  every  progressive  step  was  made  men  looked 
back  to  that  time  of  incomparable  power  and  greatness,  as  if 
they  had  now,  after  the  dark  period  of  bondage  under  the 
barbarian  yoke,  again  found  their  true  national  institutions 
And  having  won  their  liberty,  the  towns  defended  it  in  a 
heroic  struggle.     When  Frederick  I.,  without  regard  for  the 
existing  conditions,  enforced  the  old  imperial  rights  again  to 
their  full  extent,  when  he  put  down  all  opposition  with  an 
iron  hand  and  destroyed  the  revolted  Milan,  and  when  his 
procurators  ^ndpodestd  then  exercised  an  oppressive  and  un- 
bearable sway,  the  great  Lombard  League  was  formed      In 
his  struggle  with  the  Emperor,  the  Pope  recognised  the  com- 
munes as  his  mightiest  allies,  and  became  from  that  time  the 
protector  of  municipal  liberty.     The  conflict  ended  with 
Frederick  s  defeat  at  Legnano  (11 76).     The  Peace  of  Con- 
stance (1183)  confirmed  the  independence  of  the  cities- 
the    emperor    retained    some    prerogatives,    but    only    in 
theory.  ^ 

This  liberty,  however,  which  the  Italian  cities  had  ob- 
tained, was  municipal,  not  national ;  the  supremacy  of  the 
Empire  was  not  disputed,  and  no  one  in  those  days  thought 
of  the  independence  of  Italy.  The  patriotism  which  thSse 
struggles  called  forth  was  intended  by  each  individual  only 
for  his  own  city,  not  for  the  country :  a  national  feeling  did 
not  as  yet  exist  in  Italy.  People  imitated  Rome,  strove  for 
tame  and  power,  but  each  of  the  small  republics  worked  for 
Itself.  And  so  the  result  was  not  the  strengthening  and  union 
of  the  nation,  but,  on  the  contrary,  a  splitting-up  into  isolated 
divisions,  which  could  not  fail  to  be  attended  by  the  most 
pernicious  consequences  sooner  or  later.  The  Lombard 
League,  that  had  held  together  for  fifty  years,  was  broken  up 
as  soon  as  the  common  danger  was  at  an  end.  The  com- 
munes soon  fought  against  one  another.     The  stronger  en- 


N 


l6      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

deavoured  to  crush  the  weaker,  in  order  to  extend  their  own 
territory;  some  stood  by  the  Emperor,  the  others  by  the 
Pope,  and  a  medley  of  cruel  and  pitiless  feuds  rent  Italy 
asunder.  Added  to  this  came  the  divisions  in  the  cities 
themselves,  the  struggles  of  the  parties,  which  finally  led  to 
the  most  oppressive,  tyrannical  rule,  bringing  to  a  speedy 
termination  this  brilliant,  though  still  barbarous  period  of  the 
Italian  republics.  In  Northern  Italy  this  took  place  as  early 
as  in  the  thirteenth  century.  In  Tuscany  the  development  was 
slower;  the  powerful  Margraves  maintained  their  rights  longer, 
and  the  communes  were  surrounded  by  great  feudal  families, 
who  made  it  more  difficult  for  them  to  extend  their  territory. 
Though  the  cities  of  Tuscany,  and  especially  Florence,  did 
not  attain  the  importance  of  the  Lombard  cities  till  later, 
they  were  able  on  that  account  to  maintain  their  independ- 
ence for  a  much  longer  period. 

While  the  old  Roman  liberty  seemed  to  be  reviving  under 
new  forms  in  the  communes  of  Northern  and  Central  Italy, 
a  remarkable  attempt  was  made  in  Rome  itself  to  set  up  a 
real  Roman  republic  in  its  former  state.  Here  not  only  did 
there  remain  nothing  of  the  ancient  institutions,  but  under 
the  Papal  rule  not  even  analogous  systems  could  gain 
ground,  as  was  the  case  in  the  dominions  of  the  bishops  and 
counts.  To  a  greater  extent  than  elsewhere  the  classical 
titles  continued  to  be  used,  but  they  had  entirely  lost  their 
former  signification.  The  wild  and  warHke  nobles  called 
themselves  as  a  body  senatus  \  this  designation  was  also 
applied  to  women,  and  the  title  of  senatrices  was  hereditary 
in  the  family  of  Alberic.  Later  on  the  great  barons  called 
themselves  consules,  also  without  holding  any  special  office. 
In  the  year  1 143  the  people  rose  against  the  nobles  and  the 
pope,  in  one  of  those  transitory  fits  of  patriotic  and  classical 
enthusiasm  for  the  ancient  fame  of  the  all-powerful  city, 
which  frequently  recurred  from  time  to  time.  The  agitation 
differed  in  character  from  the  earlier  one  under  Alberic.  In 
the  two  centuries  that  had  passed  since  then,  the  knowledge 
of  antiquity  had  progressed;  formerly  men  were  satisfied 
with  an  independent  government  of  the  nobles,  now  the 
people  were  to  rule,  and  a  senate  of  twenty-five  members  was 
constituted  on  the  Capitol.  The  monk  Arnaldo  of  Brescia, 
a  pupil  of  Abelard,  full  of  noble  zeal,  preaching  the  reform 


MEDIEVAL  LATIN   LITERATURE 


17 


of  the  Church,  the  purity  of  morals,  and  the  poverty  of  the 
Clergy,  took  the  lead  of  the  movement.     For  the  new  free 
constitution  they  sought   the  protection   of  the  Emperor 
whose  rights  they  thought  they  were  defending;  the  Republic 
wrote  to  Conrad  III.  (1149),  and  called  on  him  to  take  pos- 
session of  Rome,  the  capital  of  the  world,  and  from  there 
to  rule  over  Italy  and  Germany.     In  the  year  1152  there 
was  a  fresh  rising.     Two  thousand  of  Arnaldo's  followers 
leagued  together,  and  modelled  the  constitution  still  more 
closely  on  the  type  of  that  of  ancient  Rome,  with  a  hun- 
dred senators  and  two  consuls;   and  as  the  Emperor  did 
not  heed  their  invitations,  they  also  thought  of  placing  at 
the  head  of  the  state  an  Imperator  chosen  by  themselves. 
When  Frederick  I.  then  appeared,  the  ambassadors  of  the 
senatus  populusque  romanus  came  before  him  with  grandilo- 
quent and  presumptuous  language ;  but  he  scoffed  at  their 
hollow  phrases,  and  delivered  Arnaldo  into  the  power  of 
Pope  Hadrian  IV.,  who  had  him  burnt.     Thus  ended  this 
noble  dream  of  a  free  Roman  state ;  it  was  based  on  anti- 
quarian and  fantastic  aspirations,  seeking  satisfaction  in  ex- 
ternal  display,  in  names  and  phrases,  without  heeding  the 
pettiness  of  the  things  as  they  really  were,  which  contrasted 
strangely  with  the  forms  in  which  they  were  clothed.     But 
this  unsuccessful  effort  to  introduce  the  ideas  of  antiquity 
into  contemporary  politics  serves  to  characterise  the  spirit 
of  those  times. 

The  great  maritime  cities  shared   largely  in   the   glory 
of  Italy   in   the  Middle  Ages,    on  account  of  their   bold 
voyages    and    their   expeditions    against    the    Saracens    of 
bpam  and  Africa.     Foremost  among  them  were  those  cities 
ot  the  South  that  had  remained  Greek  but  were  almost  in- 
dependent—Gaeta,  Naples  and  Amalfi ;  allied  with  the  Pope 
they  defeated  the  Mussulmans  at  Ostia  in  849  and  at  the 
Garigliano  in  916.     As  early  as  in  the  second  half  of  the 
tenth   century  the   Pisans   did  not  confine  themselves  to 
defensive  tactics,  and  attacked  the  enemy  in  Sicily.     The 
liberation  of  Sardinia  by  the  Pisans  and  Genoese  (1015)  the 
first  example  in  the  West  of  a  large  expedition  against  the 
baracens,  made  the  Italians  masters  of  the  Mediterranean 
I  he  landing  in  Africa  and  the   capture  of  Bona  (1034), 
caused   much   excitement  in  the  whole  of  the  West  as  a 


■te*feAaa!fc..?.i^^.da^ 


l8      HISTORY  OF  EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

triumph  of  Christendom  over  Islam.'     These  were  followed 
SXr  glorious  feats  of  arms  of  the  P.sans  partly  m  alli- 
ance with  the  people  of  Genoa  and  Amalfi ;    especially 
not^bk  are  the  occupation  of  Mehdia,  the  capital  cty  of 
Northern  Africa   (1087),  which   forced  the   Arabian  ruler 
to  make  a  humiliating  peace,   and   the   conquest  of  the 
Balearic    Isles    after    an   obstinate    struggle      ";3-'"4)_ 
Venice,  which  was  to  become  the  most  important  of  these 
maritime  republics,  and  such  a  factor  in  the  polifcal  hfe 
of  Italy,  came  on  the  scene    ater,  and  gave  for  the  first 
time  proof  of  her  great  power  in  the  crusades      In  a  1   hese 
struggles  against   the    Saracens,   the  interests  of  religion 
and^hose  of  commerce  were  from   the  beginning   mixed 
together  in  a  peculiar  manner,  and  the  former  yielded  more 
and  more  to  the  latter;  the  subjugation  of  tracts  of  land 
and  the  setting  up  of  factories  became  the  main  object 
Tnd  so  the  Italians  took  part  in  the  crusades  in  a  different 
fp"rit  to  the  other  nations.      Already   more   enlightened 
a^d   occupied   with   the   development   of  their   mumcipal 
liberty  and  with  the  increase  of  their  weal  h,    they   were 
orompted  to  go  to  the  East,  not  so  much  by  religious  feeling, 
TyT&af  longing  to  see  the  Ho'y  Land    or  the  quest 
for  wonders  and  adventures,  as  by  the  desire  to  attain  poli- 
tical and  commercial  advantages.  .  , 

Here   again,  it  was  no  national  spirit  that  animated  the 
enterprises  of  the  maritime  cities.    Just  as  the  conimunes  in 
general,  so,  too,  each  of  them  individually,  thought  only  of 
?he  extension   of  their   own   power ;    the   great   successes 
were  the  cause  of  jealousy  among  the  republics,  and  the 
rivalry  of  their  interests  brought  about  dissension.     1  hus 
immediately  after  the   first  great  victory,  the  capture  of 
Sardinia,  the  allies  disputed  as  to  the  possession   of  the 
island.     The  enmity  continued,  and  led  to  the  long  and 
fierce  war  between  Genoa  and  Pisa,  in  which  the  latter  city 
eventually  suffered  defeat.    This  was  followed  by  the  endless 
struggle  between  Genoa  and  Venice,  which  broke  out  again 
and  again,  and  occupied  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  cen- 
turies    Thus  it  was  the  destiny  of  luly,  that  for  want  of  a 
united  government,  each  political  force  should  become  the 
>  Michele  Amari,    "  Storia  dei   Musulmani    in   Sicilia,"   vol.    iii., 
parte  i.,  p.  13-     Firenze,  1868. 


MEDIEVAL  LATIN   LITERATURE  19 

sTruSe"afte°LVh:r°"  ^"^  '^''"'  P"^^""'    ^"*  ^^  °- 

nJtel  *!fiff  "'"'.  °^  ""'  ^°"*  ^'^  '"  'he  meantime  taken 
quite  a  different  course  to  those  of  Northern  and  Central 

lonsi:^:  the  latter  territory  was  governed  by  a  municip" 
constitution  a  strong  feudal  monarchy  arose  ii^  the  former 
Bands  of  Normans,  that  had  appeared  since  loi,  Zot 
advantage  of  the  state  of  confusion  arising  fomAe 
^ruggles  between  Greeks,  Lombards  and  Saracens  Thus 
from  being  bold  adventurers,  by  dint  of  force  and  cun 
ning  they  gradually  came  to  be  rulers  of  the  southern 
continent,  under  the  guidance  of  the  princes  of  the  house  of 
Hauteville.  Quickly  they  became  nationalised  and  were  no 
onger  regarded  as  foreigners.    They  had  brought  witT  hem 

tC  stlte""n  theT'!i'f ""  °'  "^^'^  countryf  and  fouS 
tneir  state  on  the  feudal  system,  which  had  never  reallv 

taken  root  ,n  the  rest   of  Italy.     Political   cons^deraHom 
induced  them  to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  thTchurch 

laterLt     BuT  tt'  ^°""^°'  g^ dangel^  to  Z  sJ^Sn' 
later  ages.     But  the  support  and  consecration  of  the  Pone 
gave  their  wars  of  conquest  the  stamp  of  crusades      Th^ 
long  struggle  also  in  Sicily  was  in  the  nVure  of  a  c^usaS 
Count  Roger,  in  the  course  of  thirty  years  of  indeSble 
3^1f°^'Y°9'>'^"^'^hedtheentireLandfomtS^^^^^^ 
of  the  Mussulnians.     Strong  faith,  together  with  valou?  and 
cunning,  gamed  the  Normans  their  victory.     Count  Roger 
however,  became  very  tolerant  through  being  in  consTn; 
contact  with  Greeks  and  Arabs,  and,  with  hi   keen  intellect 
divining  the  real  aims  of  the  Court  of  Rome     he  dfd  noJ 
interfere  with  the  worship  of  the  Mohammedan  population 
soon  received  numerous  Mussulmans  into  his  armv  and    t  ^1 

Snrthe'^rSn^f'r  ^°'7t  °T  ""  'he  cSn'fa^  h^ 
the  sfand  an??h.  M  ^^""  "•'  "^^^  ""'"^'^  ""^^^^  his  sway 
took  thP  liH      I,    Norman  portion  of  the  mainland,  and 

engineers  were  a  ,t'"^  ^"^°^'  ^"^'''''  ^"''l'^'^'  ^«'°r«  ^nd 
engineers  were  a  strong  support  in  the  struggles  against  thp 

':Z2'S;/cri  ^'  Palermo  the  Couffi^^eSmed 
sp«/h^   /k    P  •^°2®'"'  *  S'^at  king  and  statesman,  pos- 

sessed at  the  same  time  an  intellect  that  was  eager  for  evej 

^  Amari,  1.  c,  p.  396  ff. 


•t 


20      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

kind  of  knowledge.    Favoured  by  him,  the  arts  and  sciences 
of  the  Mohammedans  flourished  again,  after  the  storms  ot  the 
wars  of  conquest.     Magnificent  palaces  and  gardens  sprang 
up  according  to  the  taste  of  the  East ;  Arabian  poets  cele- 
brated  the    King,  and  the   splendour   of  his   Court ;    the 
learned  Edrisi  composed  his  geographical  work,  the  most 
important  of  the  Middle  Ages,  in  the  execution  of  which 
the   King    took   the    keenest   interest;    and   the   Admiral 
Eugene  translated  the  Optics  of  Ptolemy  from  Arabic  into 
Latin.     In   the   reigns  of  William   the   Bad  and  William 
the  Good,  the  Mohammedan  population  diminished  more 
and  more ;    Frederick  IL  put  down  the  last  of  the  rebels 
among  their  number,  and  transferred  them  to  the  military 
colony  at  Lucera  in  Apulia,  where  they  could  adhere  to  their 
faith  without  hindrance.     But  for  more  than  a  century  the 
Italians  on  the  island  had  been  in  contact  with  a  civilisation 
that  was  richly  developed,  and   at  that   time  superior   to 
their  own :    hence  it  did  not  fail  to  exercise  effectual  and 

fruitful  influence.  . 

Roger  IL  called  himself  at  his  coronation  SicihcB  atque 
Italim  rex ;  but,  though  one  of  the  most  powerful  princes  of 
his  time,  he  did  not  attempt  to  change  the  kingdom  of 
Sicily  into  a  kingdom  of  Italy.     He  could  not  hope  to  be 
equal  to  the  triple  opposition  of  the  Pope,  the  Communes, 
and  the  Emperor,  and  directed  his  designs  against  the  South 
and  East  instead.     Henry  VI.  united  the  Empire  with  the 
throne  of  Sicily,  and  the  combination  of  these  two  procured 
for  his  son  Frederick  IL   a  position  such  as  no  ruler  in 
Italy  had  enjoyed  since  Otto  the  Great.     Added  to  this, 
he  was  no  foreigner,  but  an  Italian  born,  and  had  his  resid- 
ence in  Italy  itself.     The  opportunity  of  forming  the  whole 
country  into  one  State  seemed  at  last  to  have  come,  and 
Frederick  wanted  to  take  advantage  of  it.     But  it  was  too 
late.     As  usual  the  Papacy  opposed  him,  hurled  the  ban  of 
excommunication  and  the  decree  of  deposition  against  the 
Emperor,  and  found  allies  in  the  Guelph  communes  and  the 
small  dynasties  of  Lombardy,  in  rebellious  vassals  in  the 
kingdom  of  Sicily,  and  in  the  German  princes.     Fredenck 
for  his  part  meant  in  all  earnest  to  destroy  the  secular  power 
of  the  Pope,  and  to  make  Rome  subject  to  himself  in  reality. 
The  fresh  and  terrible  struggle  between  Church  and  Empire 


MEDIEVAL  LATIN   LITERATURE  21 

that  followed  brought  about  the  fall  of  the  House  of  Hohen- 
stoufen.  And  with  that  dynasty  disappeared  the  last  prospect 
of  the  revival  of  political  unity,  and  Italy  remained  at  the 
close  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  its  old  state  of  division 

The  causes  which,  after  the  eleventh  century,  brought 
about  a  fresh  intellectual  movement,  were  for  the  most  part 
at  work  in  the  other  countries  of  Europe  as  well  as  in  Italy 
and  led,  m  the  twelfth  century,  to  a  period  of  considerable 
culture,  though  differing  from  ours,  to  a  Pre-Renaissance 
that  already  studied  antiquity,  but  reproduced  it  in  a  form 
that  was  false  and  distorted,  and  transformed  by  contempor- 
ary ideas.     But  the  Italians  were  in  advance  of  the  other 
nations  m  taking  up  scientific  studies  again  with  more  vigour  • 
the  beginnings  of  these  we  already  find  among  them  towards 
the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century.     One  reason  for  this  is 
without  doubt,  as  Giesebrecht  pointed  out,  the  continuance 
of  a  stronger  classical  tradition,  the  predilection  with  which 
men  had  cultivated  grammatical  studies,  and  had  thus  kept 
up  at  any  rate  a  superficial  knowledge  of  the  authors.     But 
besides  this,  classical  culture  could  not  fail  to  be  revived 
more  easily  and  quickly,  and  to  influence  the  ideas  of  the 
time,  m  the  land  in  which  it  had  sprung  up,  and  in  which 
the  ruins  of  its  mighty  monuments  appealed  to  the  imagina- 
tion of  new  generations  more  powerfully  than  anywhere  else 
Another  point  m  which  the  Italy  of  that  day  differed  from 
the  other  Western   countries,  was  the  greater  diffusion  of 
culture,  the  benefits  of  which  were  shared  not  only  by  the 
clergy,  but  also  to  a  certain  extent  by  the  laity.     Ratherius 
ot  Verona  mentions  private  schools  as  well  as  the  schools  at- 
tached to  cathedrals  and  convents,  and  documents  contain  the 
names  of  teachers  without  any  clerical  title.     The  German 
Wippo,  in  his  panegyric  on  Henry  III.,  exhorts  the  Emperor 
to  urge,  in  Germany  also,  the  nobles  to  send  their  sons  to 
school,  and  to  have  them  imbued  with  literary  culture  and 
with  a  knowledge  of  the  laws,  as  had  formerly  been  the  case 
in  Rome,  and  as  was  still  customary  among  the  Italians  : 

Hoc  servant  Itali  post  prima  crepundia  cuncti, 
Lt  sudare  scholis  mandatur  tota  iuventus. 

It  is  true  that  the  results  of  this  important  difference  do  not 
show  themselves  till  later;  at  the  beginning,  literary  activity 


iifeJffliftiJlBtai»ilifiMa8 


'-■"-'■'— '■—^'^' 


22      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

is  in  Italy,  too,  to  be  found  only  among  the  clergy,  and  it 
is  chiefly  the  monasteries  that  are  the  true  seats  of  learning. 
The  venerable  old  abbey  of  Monte  Cassino,  founded  in 
529  by  S.   Benedict,  as  one  of  the  chief  centres  for  the 
monastic  life  of  the  West,  destroyed  in  589  by  the  Lombards, 
rebuilt  in  718,  again   destroyed  by  the  Saracens  in   884, 
and   restored   about   950,  developed   a   great   artistic  and 
literary   activity   under    the    rule   of    the   excellent  abbot, 
Desiderius    (from    1057),    who    afterwards    became    Pope 
Victor  III.      The  monastery  and  church  were  splendidly 
renovated  with  old  Roman  marble  pillars,  Greek  mosaics, 
and   valuable   bronze   doors.     Manuscripts   were   carefully 
copied  and  adorned  with  miniatures.    The  monks,  Alphanus, 
who  became  later  Archbishop  of  Salerno  (1057-1085),  and 
Gaiferius,  treated  religious  subjects  in  the  metres  of  ancient 
lyrical  poetry,  and  with  a  perfection  of  form  and  purity  of 
language   that   deserve   the   greatest   admiration  for  those 
times  ;  in  Alphanus  there  are  imitations  of  Virgil,  Horace, 
Ovid,  and  Jjuvenal.     Another  monk,   Amatus  of  Salerno, 
wrote  (about  the  year   1080)  the  history  of  the   Norman 
conquest,  which  has  been  lost  in  the  Latin  original,  and 
is   preserved   only  in   an    Old   French   translation.      Con- 
stantinus  Afer  of  Carthage,  who,  having  in  the  course  of 
long  travels  in  the  East,  become  master  of  the  learning  of 
the  Arabians,  fled  about  the  year  1077  from  persecutions  in 
his  country  and  entered  the  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino. 
He  translated  medical  works  from  Arabic  and  Greek  into 
Latin,  and  in  this  way,  considerably  furthered,  as  it  seems, 
the  beginnings  of  the  medical  school  at  Salerno.   Pandulphus 
of  Padua  composed  a  large  number  of  works  on  astronomical 
subjects.       Finally   the   favourite   studies   of  the    Italians, 
grammar  and  rhetoric,  are  represented  by  Alberic,  a  man  of 
unusual  versatility,  who  also  wrote  theological  works,  verses  in 
classical  form,  and  popular  rhythms,  treatises  on  music  and 
astronomy.    In  his  "  Rationes  Dictandi,"  and  in  the  *'  Brevi- 
arium  de  Dictamine,"  he  evolved  for  the  first  time  the  new 
theory  for  handling  artistically  the  epistolary  style,  with  its 
five  divisions  of  the  Salutatio,  Captatio  be?ievolenti(B,  Nar- 
ration Petitio^  and  Conclusio,  which  remained  for  centuries 
the  basis  of  the  precepts  in  the  epistolary  guides.      His 
familiarity  with  the  writers  of  antiquity  is  seen  especially  in 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN    LITERATURE 


^l 


another  little  book,  the  "  Flores  Rhetorici;"  or,  "Dictaminum 
Radii,"  which  contains  the  rules  for  composition  and  style, 
and  takes  examples  from  Virgil,  Ovid,  Horace,  Terence, 
Persius,  Lucan,  Cicero,  and  Sallust. 

A  similar  period  of  scientific  activity  began  in  Lombardy 
simultaneously  with  that  in  Southern  Italy.  Parma  was 
renowned  as  a  seat  for  the  study  of  the  liberal  arts,  and  the 
schools  of  Milan  were  also  in  high  repute.  To  these  parts 
belongs  Anselm  the  "  Perapetician,"  as  he  called  himself  in 
the  *'  Rhetorimachia,"  the  only  one  of  his  works  that  has  been 
preserved.  This  treatise  gives  us  several  details  concerning 
his  life.  Born  near  Pavia,  of  noble  family,  he  was  a  pupil  of 
the  "philosopher"  Drogo,  who  taught  in  Parma,  became 
member  of  the  clergy  of  Milan,  went  later  to  the  court  of  the 
Emperor  Henry  III.  in  Germany,  and  entered  his  chapel. 
He  shows  acquaintance  with  philosophy  and  theology,  with 
jurisprudence  and  grammar ;  but  his  chief  study  was  rhetoric. 
He  had  written  a  compendium  of  this  science,  entitled  "De 
materia  artis,"  which  has  been  lost,  and  it  was  as  an  exem- 
plification of  the  rules  laid  down  in  this  work  that  the 
"Rhetorimachia"  was  intended  to  serve.  This  book  was 
dedicated  to  the  Emperor  Henry,  and  composed  between 
1046  and  1056.^  It  is  an  imaginary  rhetorical  confutation  in 
three  books ;  the  author  pretends  that  he  is  attacked  in  a 
pamphlet  by  his  cousin  Rotilandus,  and  shows  all  the 
rhetorical  errors  that  occur  in  this  imaginary  treatise,  defends 
himself  and  the  clergy  of  Milan,  and  hurls  back  at  his  accuser 
the  charges  of  immorality.  Thus  he  finds  an  opportunity  of 
showing  his  dialectical  skill ;  he  makes  use  of  subtle  argu- 
mentations and  sophisms,  and  adopts  a  style  of  diction 
which  is  heavy,  twisted,  and  frequently  obscure,  but  correct, 
and  which  often  passes  over  into  rhythm  and  rhyme.  His 
learning  is  drawn  principally  from  the  Rhetoric  "ad  Heren- 
nium,"  and  from  Cicero's  "  De  Inventione."  The  book  is 
filled  with  a  strong  consciousness  of  the  author's  own  worth, 
with  deep  confidence  in  the  power  and  dignity  of  the  art 
with  which  he  feels  himself  imbued,  and  with  a  proud 
enthusiasm  for  learning.  Characteristic  is  the  very  idea  of 
making  himself  the  object  of  the  apologetic  work,  and  of  thus 

^  E.  Dummler,  "Anselm  der  Peripatetiker  nebst  anderen  Beitragen 
zur  Literaturgeschischte  Italiens  im  11.  Jahrhundert."     Halle,  1872. 


24      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

gaining  an  opportunity  for  immoderate  self-praise.     At  the 
very  outset  of  this  scientific  movement  its  representatives  are 
filled  with  a  high  opinion  of  their  own  worth,  together  with 
a  keen  desire  for  fame  and  applause.     This  is  nothing  but 
the  easily  conceivable  pride  of  men  who  have  been  the  hrst, 
after  a  long  period  of  intellectual  darkness,  to  amass  labo- 
riously a  treasure  of  knowledge,  and  who,  in  the  general 
ignorance,  look  on  the  rest  as  far  beneath  themselves ;  and 
so  it  became  the  natural  feeling  at  the  time  of  the  Renais- 
sance, as  it  appeared  later  on  in  such  pronounced  form 
among  the  humanists.     How  grandiloquent  are  the  words 
with  which  the  monk  Alberic  bids  us  pay  attention  to  his 
treatise  on  rhetoric,  which  now  appears  to  us  such  a  slight 
thing,  and  which  in  those  days  was  such  a  great  performance  : 
*'  May  the  new  nectar  flow  nowhere  in  vain ;  touched  by 
Phoebus's   ray,  may  the  spirit  let   flowers   blossom   forth. 
Here  Alberic  soars  aloft,  here  he  hopes  for  the  palm  ;  here 
may  his  adversary  be  silent  and  dumb,  wonder,  and  be  con- 
founded."    Anselm  the  Peripatician  boasts  that  the  whole 
of  Italy  is  resounding  with  his  name ;  that  France  and  Ger- 
many rejoice  at    his  approach.'     On    his    journey  to   the 
Emperor's  court  he  presented  his  work  in  the  towns  with  a 
commendatory  letter  of  his  master  Drogo,  amidst  triumphs 
and  applause.     In  a  vision  which  he  describes  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  second  book,  he  lets  the  saints  of  Paradise  and 
the  three  muses  of  Dialectic,  Rhetoric,  and  Grammar  struggle 
for  the  possession  of  him.     He  is  in  the  Elysian  fields,  in  the 
company  of  the  blessed,  but  the  muses  endeavour  to  induce 
him  to  return  to  earth  :  for  he  is  their  only  shield,  their  only 
support  among  men,  and  when  he  shall  be  no  more,  none 
will  rise  again  to  equal  him  in  these  arts.     Having  wakened 
from  his  dream,  he  considers  which  he  would  have  preferred, 
had  he  had  the  choice— the  company  of  the  muses  or  that  of 
the  blessed  :  he  decides  that  he  would  have  liked  best  to 
enjoy  them  both  simultaneously :  but,  in  the  meantime,  as 
eternal  bliss  on  earth  is  impossible,  he  selects  the  muses.    So 
we  have  here  also  a  trait  which  puts  us  in  mind  of  the  later 
Renaissance  :  the  knowledge  of  the  Pagans  is  already  brought 

1  It  is  true  that  Anselm  himself  tries  to  make  out  in  the  letter  to 
Drogo  (p.  21)  that  these  boasts  are  merely  a  joke;  but  nobody  wUl 
believe  this. 


MEDIEVAL  LATIN   LITERATURE 


25 


into  comparison  with  the  Paradise  of  the  Christians,  and  no 
decision  is  come  to. 

Yet  another  characteristic  peculiarity  that  recurs  among 
the  later  humanists,  is  found  already  in  the  literary  life  of 
those  days,  namely  the  pleasure  taken  in  polemic,  the 
jealousy  among  the  writers,  who  wrangle  round  the  little 
knowledge  they  have  just  acquired,  and  struggle  for  pre- 
cedence. In  a  letter  to  Drogo,  Anselm  replies  in  detail  to 
his  detractors  and  to  those  who  are  jealous  of  him,  of  whom 
some  said  that  he  was  not  capable  of  composing  such  a 
work,  and  that  he  had  been  helped  in  it,  while  others  declared 
it  to  be  superfluous,  and  others  again  suspected  him  of 
heresy  and  of  having  intercourse  with  demons,  because  he 
sought  solitude  during  his  studies.  We  find  similar  complaints 
concerning  jealousy  and  emnity  in  Alberic  also,  and  later  on 
in  Petrus  Diaconus,  and  they  are  constantly  repeated  by  the 
compilers  of  epistolary  guides.  And  these  latter  then  attack 
Alberic,  too,  although  he  is  the  real  founder  of  their  art,  re- 
proaching him  with  superfluous  accessories,  or  maintaining 
that  they  adhere  more  closely  to  the  classical  models  than 
he  does. 

Medieval  Latin  poetry  was  also  for  the  greater  part  an 
exercise  in  grammar  and  rhetoric,  an  imitation  of  the 
authors  that  had  been  read,  a  repetition  of  formulas  that  had 
been  learnt  by  heart ;  and  it  is  only  rarely  that  any  original 
inspiration  can  be  found.  Of  this  the  religious  lyrical  poetry 
shows  most  traces,  as  in  the  poets  of  Monte  Cassino  that 
have  been  mentioned,  or  in  the  hymns  of  Damian.  To 
Northern  Italy  belongs  a  love  poem  in  one  hundred  and 
fifty  leonine  distichs,  doubtless  composed  by  a  priest,  since 
it  is  entered  on  some  empty  pages  of  a  Latin  Psalter,  and 
probably  written  about  the  year  1075,  as  Henry  IV.'s  defeat 
at  the  hands  of  the  Saxons  is  alluded  to : 

Cum  secus  ora  vadi  placeat  mihi  ludere  Padi, 
Fors  et  velle  dedit,  flumine  Nimpha  redit.  ^ 

The  poet  converses  with  a  girl  on  the  banks  of  the  Po  :  he 
extols  her  beauty,  and  promises  her,  in  an  endless  enumera- 
tion, all  the  comforts,  valuables  and  enjoyments  she  can 
wish  for,  as  also  the  immortality  that  the  old  poets  conferred 

^  Diimmler,  **  Anselm,"  p.  94  ff. 


! 


26      HISTORY  OF    EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

on  heroes  and  women,  if  she  will  only  love  him.  Here 
everything  is  full  of  exaggerations  ;  the  author's  imagmation 
conjures  up  visions  of  untold  wealth,  which  he  lays  at  the 
feet  of  the  loved  one,  and  raises  him  above  poets  and  gods, 
while  he  has  still  to  struggle  laboriously  with  the  form. 

To  the  end  of  the  eleventh  and  beginnmg  of  the  twelfth 
centuries  belong  a  number  of  more  lengthy  Latin  poems  on 
historical  themes,  dealing  with  contemporary  subjects,  poems 
in  praise  of  princes  and  communes,  and  narratives  of  their 
military  achievements.     The  most  perfect  work  of  this  kind, 
distinguished  by  the  simplicity  and  clearness  of  the  narrative 
and  by  the  excellence  of  the  hexameters,  is  the  "Gesta  Roberti 
Wiscardi " '  of  Guilelmus  Appulus  ;   but  it  is  probable  that 
just  this  man  was  not  an  Italian  but  a  Frenchman,  and  that 
the  surname  of  Appulus  referred  only  to  the  place  at  which 
he   subsequently   lived.'     Far  less  polished  is   the   "Vita 
Mathildis  "  of  the  monk  Donizo  of  Canossa,  a  panegyric  on 
the  Countess  of  Tuscany,  written  during  her  lifetime,  at  the 
end  of  1 1 14,'  a  vapid  chronicle,  lacking  all  art  and  ornament, 
written  in  rough  verses  and  a  careless  style,  with  a  special 
predilection  for  the  affected  use  of  Greek  words.    Equally  de- 
fective is  the  form  of  an  anonymous  poem  on  the  subjugation  of 
Como  by  the  Milanese  (i  1 18-1 127),  written  by  an  inhabitant 
of  the  former  city. '     The  barbarisms,  the  bad  grammatical 
mistakes  and  the  great  lack  of  clearness,  which  renders  con- 
stant explanation  necessary,  testify  to  the  low  state  of  the 
writer's  culture :  still,  there  are  touches  of  patriotic  warmth 
here  and  there,  especially  towards  the  end  of  the  poem, 
where  the  author  bewails  the  misfortunes  of  his  native  town. 
The  song  in  praise  of  Bergamo,  composed  between  11 12 
and  1 129  in  dull  rhymed  hexameters,  by  a  certain  Magister 
Moses  '  (a  grammarian,  therefore),  is  of  some  interest  owing 
to  the  fabulous  account,  that  occurs  at  the  end,  of  the  origin 
of  the  city— one  of  those  legends  that  all  the  more  important 
of  the  Italian  cities  invented  concerning  their  foundation. 

1  *«Mon.  Germ.  Script.",  ix.  241.       ^^ 

*  Cf.  Amari,  "  Storia  dei  Musulmam,    m.  22. 

3  **Mon.  Germ.  Script.,"  xii.  348.  „   x/r      .    •    «Por 

*  "DeBello  MediolanensiumadversusComenses      Muratori,     Ker. 

It.  Script.,"  V.  413. 

*  "De  Laudibus  Bergomi,"  Muratori,  ?/'.,  529. 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN   LITERATURE 


2; 


According  to  this  narrative,  Brennus  the  Gaul  was  said  to 
have  fortified  Bergamo  as  the  the  chief  citadel  of  his  power. 
But  when  the  Romans  had  driven  out  this  "  Gallic  pest," 
the  senate,  in  order  to  insure  security  for  the  future,  set  up 
a  presidency  in  the  town,  at  the  head  of  which  was  one  of 
the  Fabii,  one  of  that  glorious  race  which  fell  for  their 
country  at  the  Cremera,  to  the  number  of  three  hundred ; 
and  then  the  grammarian  goes  on  to  sing  the  praises  of  this 
noble  Fabius,  the  first  protector  of  his  city,  and  extols  him 
above  ^neas,  Cato  and  Cicero.  These  new  communes, 
not  satisfied  with  the  protection  of  their  patron  saints, 
desired  to  derive  their  nobility  from  the  name  of  some 
famous  Roman,  Greek,  or  Trojan. 

Two  poems  dealing  with  events  of  Pisan  history  contain 
more  numerous  classical  elements  than  the  works  hitherto 
mentioned.    In  these  the  powerful  and  flourishing  condition 
of  the  republic  invited  comparison,  to  a  special  degree,  with 
ancient   times.      One   of  the   two    poems   celebrates    the 
victorious  expedition  of  the  Pisans  to  Africa  in  the  year 
1087,  in  the  popular  measure  of  rhythmical  and  rhymed  long 
verses  with  a  sharp  caesura,  which  were  derived  from  the 
catalectic  trochaic  tetrameter,  and  which  we  already  found 
in  the  song  on  the  Emperor  Louis  11.^     Several  exaggera- 
tions which  garnish  the  narrative,  in  the  main  historically 
correct,  tend  to  show  that  the  author  wrote  some  time  after 
the  events  described.     The  expedition  is  represented  as  a 
crusade  against  the  infidels,  and  brings  about  the  liberation 
of  a  hundred  thousand  Christian  prisoners ;  Christ  protects 
and  leads  ithe  pious  warriors,  performs  miracles  for  them, 
sends  an  angel  to  their  aid,  and  causes  the  lions  that  have 
been  let  loose  on  them  to  turn  against  the  Saracens  them- 
selves.    But  at  the  same  time  the  poet  thinks  of  the  war  of 
Rome  against  Carthage,  a  war  which  Pisa  had  now  taken  up 
again  with  no  less  glory  to  herself.     He  begins  his  work  with 
the  words : 

Inclytorum  Pisanorum  scripturus  historiam, 
Antiquorum  Romanorum  renovo  memoriam  ; 
Nam  extendit  modo  Pisa  laudem  admirabilem, 
Quam  olim  recepit  Roma  vincendo  Carthaginem. 

*  Du  Meril,   "  Poes.    pop.   du  moyen-age."      Paris,    1847,   p.   239. 
Cf.  also  Amari,  1.  c,  p.  171. 


I? 


m 


»> 


28      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Immediately  afterwards  God's  miracle  on  behalf  of  Gideon 
is  cited  by  way  of  comparison,  and,  farther  on,  those  Romans 
who  took  part  in  the  expedition  as  allies  of  Pisa  are  said  to 
revive  the  memory  of  Scipio.  Ugo  Visconti,  the  noble  youth 
who  falls  in  battle,  is  compared  first  with  Codrus,  and  imme- 
diately afterwards  with  Christ,  because  he  sacrificed  himself 
for  the  good  of  the  people,  as  they  had  done.  This  ingenu- 
ous and  artless  mingling  of  things  classical  and  Christian, 
of  Biblical  images  with  those  taken  from  the  history  and 
fable  of  Pagan  antiquity,  which  we  already  had  occasion 
to  remark  in  the  poets  of  the  Gothic  period,  such  as 
Ennodius,  is  characteristic  of  the  Latin  poetry  of  the  Middle 
Ages  in  general.^ 

We  find  the  same  thing  again  in  the  long  poem,  in  seven 
books,  on  the  conquest  of  the  Balearic  Isles,  written  by  a 
certain  Laurentius  Vernensis,  that  is,  probably,  of  Vern  in 
Tuscany,  who  was  deacon  of  the  Archbishop  Peter  II.  of 
Pisa,  and  himself  present  at  the  battles  in  company  with  the 
archbishop,  as  appears  from  several  passages  of  the  narrative. 
He  begins  his  work  in  the  style  of  the  ancient  epic  poems, 
by  announcing  the  argument  : 

Arma,  rates,  populum,  vindictam  ccelitus  actam 
Scribimus,  ac  duros  terrx  pelagique  labores, 
Geryonea  viros  sese  per  riira  terentes, 
Maurorum  stragem,  spoliata  subactaque  regna. 

In  describing  the  sea-voyage  to  the  Balearic  Isles,  compari- 
sons with  the  Trojan  war  continually  suggest  themselves  to 
him.  The  relatives  that  remain  behind  lament  the  departure 
of  the  ships,  as  did  formerly  the  Achaean  women  when  the 
heroes  left  for  Pergamum.  In  Sardinia  the  Pisans  are 
received  by  King  Constantine  in  the  same  way  as  the  Danai 
at  Aulis,  and  when  the  fearful  tempest  is  depicted,  against 
which  the  vessels  have  to  struggle,  the  poet  says  that  even 
the  son  of  Laertes  would  have  been  terrified  at  it.  In  other 
passages  we  find  comparisons  with  Caesar,  with  the  Sabines 
robbed  of  their  wives  and  lamenting,  and  the  like.  Every- 
where in  this  narrative,  which,   though   monotonous   and 

^  Cf.  Pannenborg,  in  ''Forschungen  zur  dtschen.  Gesch.,"  xi.  225; 
and  Kuno  Francke,  •*  Zur  Geschichte  der  lat.  Schulpoesie  des  12.  und 
13.  Jahrh.",  p.  37.     Munchen,  1879. 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN   LITERATURE 


29 


clumsy,  is  animated  by  religious  enthusiasm  in  its  descriptions 
of  battles,  we  detect  the  poet's  effort  to  employ  the  machinery 
of  the  ancient  epic  poems.  He  gives  lists  of  troops  in  the 
manner  of  Homer's  and  Virgil's  catalogues,  and  makes  his 
personages  deliver  long,  artificial  speeches.  He  uses  the 
names  of  the  Roman  deities,  Phoebus  and  Titan,  for  the 
sun,  and  calls  God  Tonatis  or  Astripotens  rector.  Objects 
are  designated  by  the  same  names  as  in  classical  poetry  :  the 
wounded  standard-bearer  of  the  Pisans  is  healed  with  P^onian 
herbs,  and  the  shield  is  called  septemplex  tergum  or  septena 
terga.  And  scattered  among  these,  we  find  again  the  names 
of  Christ  and  of  the  saints,  the  captivity  of  the  Christians 
among  the  Mussulmans  is  compared  with  that  of  the 
Jews  in  Egypt,  and  so  on.  The  simple  fact  is  that  the 
author  did  not  put  a  heathen  construction  on  the  classical 
images  and  designations;  they  were  empty  forms,  mere 
poetical  ornaments,  which  could  be  employed  for  every 
object,  and  which  appeared  indispensable  in  poetry,  because 
the  models  for  all  poetry,  the  works  of  the  ancients,  con- 
tained them.  Especially  remarkable  in  this  respect  is  the 
close  of  the  sixth  book.  Here  is  related  how  the  souls  of 
the  slain  Saracens  descend  to  hell,  and  this  (the  Christian) 
hell  is  peopled  with  the  personages  of  the  classical  lower 
world.  In  it  Cerberus  converses  with  Pluto,  ^acus  and 
Rhadamanthus  call  on  the  king  of  the  shades  to  receive  the 
new  arrivals  worthily  with  his  punishments,  and  the  tortures 
conceived  by  the  Christian  imagination,  such  as  heat  and 
cold,  food  of  vipers  and  toads,  and  poisonous  potions,  are 
joined  to  those  invented  by  the  classics,  such  as  the  un- 
quenched  thirst  of  Tantalus.  This  transference  of  figures  of 
the  Pagan  Tartarus  to  demons  of  the  Christian  hell  became 
general ;  we  find  it  adopted  also  in  later  visions  of  the  other 
world,  and  finally,  in  the  most  splendid  manner  and  with  a 
deeper  meaning,  in  Dante's  "  Commedia." 

In  the  eleventh  century  theological  and  philosophical 
studies,  till  then  neglected,  came  into  great  favour  among 
the  Italians,  who,  for  a  short  period,  even  surpassed  the 
other  nations  that  had  hitherto  been  in  advance  of  them  in 
these  branches.  The  great  movement  in  the  Church  which 
was  due  to  Hildebrand,  the  fierce  struggles  for  and  against 
his  innovations  that  raged  round  the  investitures  and  the 


MiiaftftL^JttiiM*'-J^£^;**^^'^f*g^*^^ 


30      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

supremacy  of  the  spiritual  power,  finally  the  freshly  kindled 
disputes  with  the  Greek  Church  concerning  the  dogma  of 
the  Procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  impelled  men  to  study 
closely  the  questions  of  faith  and  the  institutions  of  the 
Church  and  its  history,  thus  producing  learned  theological 
writings,  such  as  those  of  Alberic,  of  Monte  Cassino,  of  S. 
Anselm,  Bishop  of  Lucca,  of  S.  Bruno,  Bishop  of  Segni, 
of  the  Archbishop  Grossolanus  of  Milan,  and  of  the  Arch- 
bishop Peter  of  Amalfi. 

The  man  who  by  his  sermons  and  writings  gave  the  most 
effectual  support  to  Hildebrand  in  his  work  of  reform  was 
S.  Peter  Damian,  born  at  Ravenna  in  the  year  1006  or 
1007.  First  teacher  of  the  liberal  arts  and  of  jurisprudence 
at  Parma,  then  recluse  in  the  hermitage  of  Fonte  Avellana, 
near  Gubbio,  he  was,  in  1057,  raised  to  the  dignity  of 
cardinal  by  Pope  Stephen  IX.,  against  his  will  and  after 
strenuous  opposition,  and  was  employed  by  him  and  his 
successors  in  the  most  difficult  missions  for  putting  an  end 
to  the  disorders  and  for  settling  the  disputes  of  the  Church, 
till  his  death,  which  occurred  at  Faenza  in  1072.  Peter 
Damian  is  the  most  zealous  representative  of  the  new  ascetic 
tendency  which  had  emanated  from  the  Abbey  of  Cluny, 
after  a  period  of  secularisation,  and  had  been  introduced  into 
Italy  especially  by  S.  Romualdus.  The  goal  it  strove  to  attain 
was  the  conversion  of  erring  humanity,  but  chiefly  the  purifi- 
cation of  the  profaned  Church.  S.  Damian  is  a  preacher 
of  penance,  a  pitiless  accuser  and  judge  of  vice,  which  he 
depicted  in  terrible  colours.  The  ideas  of  medieval  ascetic- 
ism find  in  him  their  gloomiest  expression.  He  believes 
the  appearance  of  the  Antichrist  and  the  Day  of  the  Last 
Judgment  to  be  not  far  distant,  and  recognises  this  through 
the  growing  depravity  of  mankind.  "  As  in  a  tempest,"  he 
says  with  powerful  imagery,  "  the  high  sea  is  more  calm  and 
less  dangerous,  but  along  the  coast  the  breakers  dash  up, 
so  human  corruption,  now  that  the  end  of  this  world  is  draw- 
ing up  near,  is  boiling  up  more  wildly  against  its  banks  and 
making  the  waves  of  lust  and  pride  tower  on  high  ("  Epist."  i. 
15).  In  his  sermons  enjoining  penance,  in  his  letters  and 
treatises  he  struggles  unceasingly  against  the  same  enemies 
that  Pope  Gregory  wished  to  root  out,  namely  simony  and 
the  marriage  and  illicit  intercourse  of  the  priesthood.     The 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN   LITERATURE 


31 


negligent  he  endeavours  to  terrify  through  tales  of  sinners 
who  died  suddenly  and  terribly,  without  having  time  for  re- 
pentance, or  by  accounts  of  visions  of  the  other  world  and 
of  apparitions  of  the  dead,  which  he  repeats  withxievout  faith. 
The  remedy  against  moral  corruption  is,  in  his  eyes,  the 
mortification  of  the  flesh ;  he  defends  and  praises  physical 
penance,  such  as  fasting,  keeping  silence,  genuflexions,  and 
above  all,  flagellation,  in  praise  of  which  he  composed  a 
special  treatise,  and  the  practice  of  which  he  endeavoured  to 
spread  among  the  monasteries.  The  hermit's  life,  which  is 
entirely  made  up  of  these  exercises,  prayer  and  pious  con- 
templation, he  takes  to  be  the  highest  state  of  perfection  for 
mankind,  the  state  in  which  the  soul,  freed  from  all  earthly 
impurity,  becomes  again  more  like  its  original  image — 
God. 

Damian  is  familiar  with  the  secular  learning  of  his  time, 
quotes  the  classical  poets,  historians  and  philosophers,  and 
employs  the  dialectics  of  the  schools  in  his  polemical  writ- 
ings. However,  this  is,  in  his  eyes,  strictly  subservient  to  a 
higher  knowledge,  and  he  wrote  the  famous  words  that 
philosophy  should  be  the  handmaiden  of  theology  :  "  Human 
science,"  he  says,  "  when  it  is  employed  in  treating  sacred 
subjects,  must  not  presume  to  play  the  part  of  the  teacher, 
but  must  serve  its  mistress  readily  like  a  handmaiden,  so  as 
not  to  go  astray  by  wishing  to  be  in  advance  "  ("  De  Divina 
Omnipotentia,"  cap.  5).  Worldly  knowledge  is,  in  his  eyes, 
only  a  means  to  the  end,  a  preparation  for  the  better  under- 
standing of  things  eternal,  and,  when  comparing  divine  and 
secular  wisdom,  he  sets  small  value  on  the  latter,  at  times 
even  despises  it,  and  inveighs  against  those  who  cultivate  it 
for  its  own  sake,  blaming  those  monks  who  "  slighting  the 
precepts  of  Benedict,  rather  occupy  themselves  with  those 
of  Donatus  "  (*'  De  Perfectione  Monachorum,"  cap.  1 1).  In 
this  respect,  therefore,  Damian  is  opposed  to  the  classical 
studies  of  the  time,  which  he  allows  to  be  only  limited  in 
value,  though  he  takes  part  in  them  in  no  small  degree. 
His  true  learning  is  in  the  dogmas,  the  Fathers  of  the  Church, 
and  the  Holy  Scripture.  Here  he  has  few  equals.  He  shows 
great  skill  in  that  allegorical  and  mystical  interpretation  of 
passages  of  the  Bible,  practised  since  Ambrosius,  which  con- 
nects them  with  moral  doctrines  or  with  the  destiny  of  the 


fe'Jar-*4Ma8j»<a,Ai!JiaAif----^'i~^^--~-'''  ~-'"--  ~^ .-.f..^  ■^■-«>  >-->,a^.,..>.=^ 


32      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

human  soul ;  of  this  his  sermons  and  letters  are  full.  Damian 
adopted  this  tropological  or  spiritual  interpretation  not  alone 
for  the  Bible,  but  also  for  the  fabulous  medieval  natural  history 
of  animals,  devoting  to  this  subject  a  special  treatise,  dedicated 
to  the  monks  of  Monte  Cassino  ("  De  bono  religiosi  status 
ex  variorum  animantium  tropologia  "),  which  is  accordingly 
nothing  more  or  less  than  one  of  the  older  allegorised 
bestiaries.  For  the  theologian,  nature  transforms  herself 
into  a  teacher  of  morals ;  in  Damian's  eyes,  God  gave  each 
animal  its  powers  and  properties  merely  with  a  view  to 
enabling  mankind,  by  dint  of  contemplating  and  interpret- 
ing them,  to  derive  precepts  for  the  salvation  of  their  own 

souls. 

What  Damian  has  to  say  on  the  relations  between  the 
spiritual  and  temporal  power  is  important ;  he  is  the  first  to 
formulate  more  precisely  the  idea  that  they  are  mutually  in- 
dependent of  each  other,  and  that  the  two  spheres  of  authority 
are  to  be  kept  apart.  "  One  cannot  do  without  the  other ; 
the  priesthood  is  protected  by  the  power  of  the  State,  and 
the  State  is  supported  by  the  sanctity  of  the  sacerdotal  office. 
The  King  is  girded  with  the  sword,  so  that  he  may  oppose 
in  arms  the  enemies  of  the  Church  ;  the  priest  devotes  him- 
self to  prayer,  so  as  to  make  God  propitious  to  the  King  and 
to  the  people.  The  former  must  weigh  earthly  matters  in 
the  scales  of  justice,  the  latter  offer  the  water  of  God's  word 
to  those  that  thirst."  These  words  he  wrote  to  the  young 
Emperor,  Henry  IV.,  at  the  same  time  exhorting  him  to  put 
aside  the  anti-Pope  Honorius  ("Epist,"  vii.  3).  Here 
Damian  does  not  hold  quite  the  same  views  as  Hildebrand ; 
he  was  not  endowed  with  that  rigid  consistency  and  inflexi- 
bility, which  he  admired  in  his  great  friend,  when  he  com- 
pared him  with  the  north  wind,  and  called  him  a  "holy 
Satan."  He  himself  is  more  inclined  to  invoke  the  aid  of 
the  Empire  in  the  settlement  of  ecclesiastical  disputes,  and 
the  precedence  which  he  certainly  wishes  to  secure  for  the 
Pope,  is  only  that  of  respect.  But  it  must  be  remembered 
that  he  did  not  live  to  see  the  most  violent  phase  of  the 
struggle,  and  considered  possible  the  close  union  of  the  two 
powers,  which  were  together  to  guide  the  human  race,  each 
in  its  own  way.  Just  as  the  offices  of  priest  and  king  were 
united  in  Christ,  so,  too,  it  is  to  happen,  through  the  bond 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN   LITERATURE 


33 


of  mutual  love,  with  the  exalted  persons  of  the  spiritual  and 
temporal  ruler,  "  that  the  King  is  to  be  contained  in  the 
Pope,  as  the  Pope  in  the  King,  but  without  prejudice  to  the 
prerogatives  of  the  Pope.  ...  He,  as  the  father,  is  always 
to  maintain  the  precedence,  according  to  paternal  right,  and 
the  King,  as  the  only  son,  is  to  rest  in  the  embraces  of  his 
love"  (" Disceptatio  Synodalis,"  conclusion).  This  inde- 
pendence and  union  of  Church  and  Empire  remained  the 
ever  unattainable  ideal  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Damian's  ecstatic  religiousness  sought  to  express  itself 
also  in  poetic  form ;  in  his  hymns  he  adopts  with  ease  and 
skill  the  ancient  metres,  but  more  frequently  he  employs 
rhythmical  measures,  and  in  those  cases  approaches  the 
popular  tone  also  by  the  simple  way  in  which  he  expresses 
his  feelings.  Some  of  these  songs  are  of  real  poetical  beauty, 
especially  the  hymn  "  De  Gloria  Paradisi,"  which  depicts 
the  joys  of  the  blessed  in  sonorous  verses,  and  with  rich  and 
warm  colours,  such  as  the  popular  imagination  derives  from 
the  choicest  things  on  earth. 

Two  other  Italians  of  this  period,  whose  names  belong  to 
the  most  celebrated  in  medieval  science,  Lanfranc  and 
S.  Anselm  of  Canterbury,  spent  all  the  later  part  of  their 
lives  in  a  foreign  country,  and  it  was  not  till  they  resided 
away  from  Italy  that  they  began  to  occupy  themselves  with 
and  to  write  on  theology  and  philosophy.  Lanfranc  was 
born  in  Pavia  about  the  year  1005,  of  noble  family,  studied 
the  liberal  arts  and  law  in  Bologna,  acquired  an  unusually 
wide  knowledge  in  these  branches,  and  then  crossed  the 
Alps,  in  order  to  show  his  skill  as  lawyer  and  dialectician 
among  other  nations.  He  came  to  Avranches  in  Normandy, 
where  a  misfortune  occurred  to  him  that  induced  him  to 
change  his  career.  One  day,  on  the  road  from  Avranches 
to  Rouen,  he  was  robbed  by  highwaymen,  and  bound  to  a 
tree ;  in  this  desperate  position,  with  death  before  his  eyes, 
he  vowed  to  devote  his  life  to  God.  Having  been  liberated 
on  the  following  morning  by  travellers,  he  entered  the 
monastery  of  Le  Bee,  where  he  underwent  the  severest 
privations  and  castigations  (1042).  But  he  was  recognised 
as  the  great  scholar;  he  opened  a  school  (1046),  which 
soon  became  famous,  and  to  which  those  eager  for  know- 
ledge repaired  in  large  numbers  from  all  parts,  so  that  the 
I.  D 


( 

I  J 


34      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

abbey,  which  had  hitherto  been  poor,  acquired  wealth  and 
importance.  He  then  became  its  prior.  His  great  fame  as 
a  theologian  he  won  through  his  polemic  against  Berengar  of 
Tours,  in  the  dispute  concerning  transubstantiation.  William 
of  Normandy  made  him  Abbot  of  St.  Etienne,  in  Caen,  and 
then,  after  the  Conquest  of  England,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. Thus  he  became,  next  to  the  king,  the  most  powerful 
and  influential  person  in  the  country.  He  died  in  the  year 
1089. 

The  importance  of  Lanfranc  lies  less  in  his  writings,  than 
in  his  teaching  in  the  school  of  Bee,  which  produced  the 
greatest  scholars  of  the  age.  To  these  pupils  of  his  belonged 
Anselm,  whose  life  took  almost  exactly  the  same  course  as 
that  of  his  teacher  and  friend.  A  native  of  Aosta,  he  also 
came  to  Avranches,  became  a  monk  at  Le  Bee  at  the  age  of 
twenty-seven,  succeeded  Lanfranc  as  prior,  became  abbot  of 
the  monastery  (1079),  and  in  1093  was  appointed  to  the 
Archiepiscopal  See  of  Canterbury.  In  the  dispute  that  arose 
around  the  investitures,  Anselm  fought  obstinately  for  the 
independence  of  the  Church,  first  against  William  II.,  then 
against  Henry  I. ;  twice  he  was  forced  to  abandon  his  see, 
and  lived  for  several  years  in  France,  also  visiting  his  native 
country,  Italy.  In  1106  his  reconciliation  with  King  Henry 
took  place,  and  three  years  after  his  return  Anselm  died 
(April  21,  1 109).  The  great  purity  of  his  morals,  his  ardent 
zeal  for  the  good  of  the  Church,  his  disinterestedness  and 
the  paternal  kindness  and  severity  with  which  he  presided  first 
over  the  monastery  and  then  over  the  diocese,  brought  him 
in  his  lifetime  the  fame  of  sanctity,  which  increased  after  his 
death.  Tales  were  spread  of  miracles  which  he  was  said  to 
have  performed.  His  canonisation,  however,  did  not  take 
place  till  centuries  later. 

S.  Anselm  left  numerous  theological  and  philosophical 
works  ;  with  him,  as  was  generally  the  case  among  medieval 
thinkers,  philosophy  is  closely  bound  up  with  faith,  nay, 
even  springs  from  it.  From  Anselm  came  the  famous  credo 
ut  intelligam  :  *'  I  do  not  endeavour  to  understand  in  order 
to  believe,  but  I  believe  in  order  to  understand ;  for  I  believe 
also  this,  that  when  I  shall  not  believe,  I  shall  also  not 
understand"  (" Proslogion,"  end  of  cap.  i.).  But  if  we 
possess  faith    the  saint  thinks,  then  we  should  also,  sup- 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN   LITERATURE 


35 


ported  by  it,  endeavour  to  attain  knowledge :  "  Just  as  the 
true  order  of  things  requires  that  we  should  believe  the 
mysteries  of  the  Christian  religion,  before  we  can  examine 
them  with  our  reason,  so  it  appears  to  me  to  be  negligence  on 
our  part,  if  we  do  not,  after  being  strengthened  in  our  faith, 
endeavour  to  understand  that  which  we  believe."     All  the 
argumentations  of  this  philosophy,  therefore,  tend  towards 
demonstrating  the  truth  of  the  dogmas.     Reason  imagines 
it  is  free,  and  is  bound  all  the  while.     It  imagines  that  it 
will  find  in  its  own  paths  the  same  truths  that  faith  teaches, 
and  sees  a  wonderful  confirmation  in  this  agreement;  but 
from    the   very  beginning    it    has   its   goal   in    sight,   and 
laboriously  endeavours  to  reach   it   by  winding  paths,  by 
leaps  and  violent  methods,  and  the  proof  becomes  subtle 
sophistry.     In   the  contradictions   which   spring  from  the 
articles  of  faith,  unity,  and  trinity,  creation  from  nothing- 
ness, predestination  and  the  freedom  of  the  will,  and  the 
like,  reason  twists  about  in  all  directions,  and  finally  escapes 
through  a  play  upon  words,  through  a  paralogism,  or  con- 
fesses that  this  is  the  limit  of  knowledge,  and  that  what 
appears  to  be  inconsistent  is  really  true,  and  this  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  truth  was  always  sought  by  eliminating  the 
inconsistencies.     In  his  "  Monologium  "  Anselm  apparently 
reconstructs  the  most  difficult  portions  of  the  dogma,  ac- 
cording to  purely  critical  reasons  and  a  strictly  philosophical 
method ;  but  in  reality  he  bases  his  arguments  on  the  double 
meaning  of  words,  such  as  verbum,  filius,  spiritus^  and  the 
like.     But  in  his  enthusiasm  for  knowledge  and  understand- 
ing, he  deceives  himself,  and  his  firm  faith  hides  from  him 
the  defects  of  his  logic.      Also  the  ontological  proof  for 
the  existence  of  God,  based  on  the  idea  of  Him  as  the  most 
perfect  Being,  which  Anselm  evolved  and  published  in  his 
"  Proslogion,"  and  which  was  found  again  by  Descartes  five 
and  a  half  centuries  later,  is  only  a  paralogism,  by  means 
of  which  faith  obtains  what  it  desires,  and  with  which  it 
is  therefore  satisfied.     Still,  we  have  here  an  advance,  in 
comparison,  for  example,  with  Damian,  the  recognition  of 
certain  claims  of  reason,  a  wider  use  of  it  in  scientific  re- 
search, though,  after  all,  only  as  a  secondary  support  of 
faith.     This  was  the  philosophy  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the 
beginning  of  the  tendency  which  was  called  Scholasticism, 


1 


36      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

save  that  this  latter  introduced  a  more  regular  and  pedantic 
method,  adopting  the  Aristotelian  doctrines  that  had  m  the 
meantime  become  better  known.  Anselm's  theological  meta- 
physics contain  rather  Platonic  elements,  which  had  been 
transmitted  to  him  by  Augustine,  Dionysius,  Areopagita, 

and  Boethius. 

The  philosophico-theological  movement  which  had  been 
begun  by  scholars  hailing  from  Italy,  had  its  continuation  in 
France,  and  not  in  Italy,  where  these  sciences  lost  ground 
again  for  a  time.     Several  Italians  of  the  succeeding  period 
who  devoted  themselves  to  them,  taught  away  from  their 
own  country,  as  Lanfranc  and  Anselm  had  already  done. 
Gerard  of  Cremona  (d.  1187),  who  rendered  service  to  the 
progress  of  studies  by  his  translations  from  the  Arabic  of 
Avicenna,  and    of  Ptolemy's    "Astronomy,"  acquired  his 
learning  in  Toledo,  and  lived  and  wrote  in  that  city.     The 
famous    Peter    Lombard,    the    author    of    the    theological 
"  Summa,"  which  was  generally  used  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  which  he  called  "  Liber  Sententiarum,"  probably  came 
from  the  neighbourhood  of  Novara,  but  soon  went  to  France 
to  finish  his  studies,  became  professor  in  Paris,  then  Bishop 
of  the  same  city  (1159),  where  he  also  died  in  1160.     In 
France,  and  chiefly  in  Paris,  theology  and  scholastic  and 
mystical  philosophy  flourished  in  the  twelfth  century,  while 
in  Italy  it  was  not  till  the  thirteenth  century  that  a  brilliant 
revival  awaited  them  through  the  labours  of  S.  Thomas  and 
S.  Bonaventura.     In  the  twelfth  century,  however,  the  sense 
for  what  is  real  and  positive,  peculiar  to  the  Italians,  again 
predominated   among  them  ;   men  eagerly  devoted  thein- 
selves  to  the  studies  of  medicine  and  law,  which  stand  m 
direct  relation  to  practical  life,  and  it  was  at  this  period  that 
the  schools  of  Salerno  and  Bologna,  where  these  sciences 
were  taught,   obtained  their  great  renown  throughout  the 
whole  of  Europe..    And  at  the  same  time  the  influence  of 
the  laity  also  began,  and  the  transition  of  learning  from  the 
clergy  to  this  body,  which  introduces  the  new  period  of 

intellectual  life. 

But  with  jurisprudence  the  study  of  rhetoric  and  grammar 
was  again  combined.  This  was,  however,  carried  on  in  a 
one-sided  manner,  for  the  practical  needs  of  the  senate  and 
of  the  lawyer's  office.     And  so  it  appeared  to  men  of  other 


MEDIEVAL  LATIN   LITERATURE 


37 


countries  that  the  Italians  lacked  all  real  interest  in  science. 
In  the  "  Bataille  des  Sept  Arts  "  of  the  Norman  poet  Henri 
d'Andeli,  the  Lombart  (as  the  Italians  were  generally  called 
in  France)  appear  as  such  representatives  of  rhetoric,  who 
practise   it   only  for    gain,   without    any  real  love  for   it. 
Grammar  and  rhetoric  were  at  that  time  essentially  intended 
to  afford  instruction  in  epistolary  and  documentary  style,  and 
a  large  number   of  letter  writers  and   books  of  formulas 
appeared,  called  "Artes  Dictandi"  or  "Summae  Dictami- 
num,"  containing  rules  for  composition  and  form,  and  collec- 
tions of  examples.    The  works  of  Alberic,  of  Monte  Cassino, 
who  had  given  this  art  its  new  basis  with  his  theory  of  the 
five  divisions  of  the  letter,  were  followed  by  those  of  men 
like  Albert  of  Samaria,  who  wrote  between  the  years  1 1 1 1 
and  1 1 19,  Aginulf,  Albert  of  Asti,  and  by  several  anonymous 
"  Artes    dictandi "   in    Lombardy.     The   Canon   Hugo   of 
Bologna,  whose  *'  Rationes  Dictandi  Prosaice  "  were  finished 
after  1 1 24,  was  a  pupil  of  Alberic.     Guido  Faba,  chaplain  of 
S.  Michael's  in  Bologna,  wrote  (c.  1229)  his  "Doctrina  ad 
Inveniendas,  Incipiendas  et  Formandas  Materias,"  which  is 
specially  interesting  from  the  fact  that  it  contains  for  the  first 
time  examples  in  the  vulgar  tongue.     The  greatest  fame  as 
grammarian  at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  was 
enjoyed  by  Magister  Boncompagno,  from  the  neighbourhood 
of  Florence,  who  taught  at  the  University  of  Bologna.     He 
entitled  his  principal  work  "  Boncompagnus  "  after  himself; 
it  was,  as  he  informs  us,  read  before  the  professors  of  this 
university  on  March  25th,  12 15,  and  crowned,  as  also  later 
by  the  university  of  Padua,  and  was  published  in  the  year 
1226  (on  March  31st).     In  1235  Boncompagno  was  still  in 
Bologna ;  later  he  went  to  the  court  of  Rome,  there  to  make 
his  fortune,  but  was  disappointed  in  his  hopes,  and  became 
so  poor  that  he  died  in  a  hospital  at  Florence.     Boncom- 
pagno was  an  original  character,  a  great  scoffer,  after  the 
manner  of  the  Florentines  generally,  as  the  chronicler  Salim- 
bene  says,  who  tells  several  anecdotes  and  jests  about  him.  He, 
too,  was  to  a  high  degree  filled  with  that  exaggerated  opinion 
of  his  merits  which  we  found  in  Anselm  the  Peripatetic.     In 
the  dialogue  between  the  author  and  his  book  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  "  Boncompagnus,"  he  speaks  of  himself  and  of 
the  importance  of  the  science  taught  by  him,  and  enumerates 


y 


^A^imT    ■>*3£W<*<ii^^-*\.jWi      *f  KiAuaCk-  i>«d>^«*iJ  a 


1 


^S      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

the  rest  of  his  works,  one  of  which  he  designates  as  the 
"Empress  of  the  liberal  arts."  In  his  boastings  he  extols 
himself  above  Cicero,  who  is  not  by  any  means  a  perfect 
model  in  his  eyes ;  he  wishes  to  be  original  in  his  rhetoric, 
and,  in  the  work  called  '*  Palma,"  he  even  maintains  that  he 
cannot  remember  ever  to  have  read  Tully,  which  is  a  distinct 
untruth,  as  he  controverts  him  in  another  place,  and  blames 
him  for  unpractical  rules  and  unclear  expressions.  He  has 
also  many  complaints  to  make  against  malevolent  enemies 
and  envious  persons ;  but  he  treats  them  with  great  haughti- 
ness. At  the  close  of  the  "  Boncompagnus,"  he  begs  the 
reader  to  wish  the  author  peace,  "  whom  numerous  scorpions 
tried  to  wound  with  their  poisonous  tails,  and  behind  whose 
back  very  many  dogs  barked ;  but,  in  front  of  his  face,  the 
lips  of  all  the  envious  were  dumb."  To  several  of  his  books 
he  gave  high-sounding  names:  *'Cedrus,"  "Mirra,"  "Palma," 
**  Oliva,"  "  Rota  Veneris,"  "  Notute  Aurese,"  "  Liber  Decem 
Tabularum."  Reading  these  titles,  we  expect  quite  different 
matter  to  rules  and  examples  for  epistolary  style.  Still,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  the  author  had  a  vivacious  intellect, 
and  that  he  understood  and  took  an  interest  in  actual  events, 
and  in  this  way  his  mode  of  treatment  compares  favourably 
with  the  usual  dryness  of  works  of  this  kind.  At  times,  by 
way  of  illustration,  he  narrates  experiences,  anecdotical  traits 
of  himself  and  others,  and  gives  valuable  information  con- 
cerning the  customs  of  his  time,  as  in  the  paragraph  in  the 
"  Boncompagnus,"  longer  than  usual,  concerning  the  use  of 
funeral  laments  in  Italy  and  elsewhere,  or  in  the  account  of 
the  coarse  jokes  which  Guido  Guerra,  Count  Palatine  of 
Tuscany,  permitted  himself  to  perpetrate  on  some  jongleurs 
that  came  to  him. 

Another  result  of  the  great  historical  events,  and  especially 
of  the  development  of  the  free  municipal  constitutions,  was 
the  long  series  of  chronicles,  beginning  with  the  close  ef  the 
eleventh  century.  In  the  South  the  history  of  the  Norman 
dynasty  was  told  by  Gaufredus  Malaterra,  by  Alexander, 
Abbot  of  Telese,  and  by  Romualdus,  Archbishop  of  Salerno; 
while  in  the  North,  the  older  and  younger  Landulf  described 
the  events  that  had  taken  place  in  their  native  city  of  Milan, 
and  Sire  Raoul  and  Otto  Morena  of  Lodi  the  wars  with 
Barbarossa.     Soon  every  town  of  some  importance,  as  its 





M 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN   LITERATURE 


39 


power  increased,  desired  the  record  of  its  deeds  and  fortunes 
to  be  preserved  for  the  remembrance  of  posterity.  The 
most  splendid  work  of  this  kind  is  the  "Annales  Genuenses,"^ 
begun  in  the  year  iioo  by  Cafaro,  a  man  who  himself 
played  an  important  part  in  the  public  life  of  his  town, 
and  who  was  several  times  one  of  the  governing  body. 
After  he  had  had  his  work  read  to  the  consuls,  it  was  at  their 
command  deposited  among  the  archives  of  the  Republic. 
After  his  death  (1166)  the  consuls,  one  after  the  other, 
had  the  chronicle  continued,  so  that  it  comes  down  to  the 
year  1293,  and  thus  comprises  the  history  of  almost  two 
centuries  written  by  eye-witnesses,  this  being  the  first  in- 
stance of  an  historical  work  commissioned  by  the  state, 
and  composed  under  its  direction. 

An  attempt  to  pass  over  from  the  simple,  unpretentious 
style  of  the  chronicle,  which  only  gives  a  list  of  facts,  to 
the  real  art  of  writing  history,  we  note  for  the  first  time, 
in  two  shorter  works  by  Florentines,  belonging  to  the  first 
half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  in  the  "Gesta  Florentinorum"^ 
of  Sanzanome,  and  in  the  "  De  Obsidione  Anconae  Liber  " ' 
of  the  master  Boncompagno,  whom  we  already  know.  The 
model  they  try  to  imitate  is,  of  course,  again  classical  art. 
The  knowledge  of  grammar  and  of  rhetoric,  which  they  had 
acquired  in  the  schools,  is  made  use  of  in  the  writing  of  his- 
tory. Sanzanome  lets  his  personages  make  well-constructed 
and  pompous  speeches ;  thus,  for  example,  in  the  war  against 
Fiesole,  a  noble  Florentine  speaks  before  the  assembled 
council  and  the  consuls,  reminding  them  of  their  great 
ancestors,  of  the  duties  their  Roman  descent  imposed  on 
them,  and  among  the  people  of  Fiesole,  a  lawyer  rises,  and 
recalls  to  them  the  glorious  descent  of  Italus,  to  whom  the 
whole  of  Italy  is  indebted  for  her  name,  the  great  antiquity 
of  the  city,  the  brave  Catiline,  and  the  like.  In  these  ficti- 
tious speeches,  the  historical  facts  supply  the  material  for 
practice  in  style,  in  the  same  way  that  it  was  usual  in  the 
schools  to  compose  letters  and  speeches  on  political  themes, 
and  to  put  them  in  the  mouths  of  Emperors  and  Popes. 

^  "Mon.  Germ.  Script.,"  xviii. 

^  O.  Hartwig,  "Quellen  und  Forschungen  zur  altesten  Gesch.  der 
Stadt  Florenz,"  i.     (Marburg,  1875.) 
^  Muratori,  "Script.,"  vi.  925  ff. 


I 


■ 


40     HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

However,  this  effort  to  adopt  a  literary  form  which  does  not 
grow  out  of  the  matter  treated,  but  is  only  applied  to  it  out- 
wardly, is  detrimental  to  the  subject  proper  of  the  history, 
which  cannot  always  be  made  to  fit  in  with  these  forms, 
and  thus  the  narrative  becomes  a  meagre,  incomplete,  and 
abstract  summary.  To  begin  with,  Boncompagno  selected 
a  theme  which  was  closely  circumscribed,  and  which  fur- 
nished an  exceptional  opportunity  for  the  introduction  of 
rhetorical  ornament,  namely,  the  heroic  defence  of  the  people 
of  Ancona,  when  they  were  besieged  in  1 1 74  by  Archbishop 
Christian  of  Mayence,  the  chancellor  of  Frederick  I.  An  old 
man  of  Ancona,  the  Greek  legate,  Guglielmo  Marcheselli  of 
Ferrara,  and  the  Countess  of  Brettinoro,  make  long  speeches, 
garnished  with  images  and  maxims,  in  order  to  fire  the 
courage  of  the  citizens.  The  old  man  begins  with  the  words : 
"  I  call  on  you,  ye  men  of  Ancona,  who  have  your  origin  in 
the  noble  stock  of  the  Romans;"  and  farther  on  he  quotes  a 
passage  from  Terence.  But,  together  with  the  classical 
quotations,  Biblical  subject-matter  is  also  introduced,  accord- 
ing to  the  taste  of  the  time.  Remarkable  in  this  work  of 
Boncompagno  is  a  passage  in  which  the  name  of  Italy  is, 
perhaps,  for  the  first  time  in  a  medieval  historian,  connected 
with  some  idea  of  national  patriotism.  After  the  author  has 
related  how  the  Venetians  supported  the  chancellor,  and  how 
so  many  other  Italians  in  the  imperial  army  fought  against 
the  oppressed  city,  he  laments  this  pernicious  division,  on 
account  of  the  impression  it  would  make  on  foreigners,  and 
adds :  "  Nam  opinio  in  banc  me  trahit  sententiam  ut  non 
credam  Italiam  posse  fieri  tributariam  alicui  nisi  Italicorum 
mahtia  procederet  ac  livore ;  in  Legibus  enim  habetur : 
*  Non  est  Provincia,  sed  Domina  Provinciarum.' "  In  Italy 
the  national  idea  was  roused  through  the  study  of  antiquity, 
and  was  at  first  merely  an  abstract  conception,  without 
reality,  since  a  municipal  constitution  alone  was  reigning 
supreme.  And  so,  as  Dante  said,  referring  to  the  same 
phrase  that  was  quoted  by  Boncompagno,  the  country  re- 
mained for  so  many  centuries— 

Non  donna  die  provincie,  ma  bordello. 

Latin  poetry,  which  had,  at  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century,  produced  those  historical  works  of  which  the  form 


. 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN   LITERATURE 


41 


was  unpolished,  but  the  contents  not  uninteresting,  was 
but  scantily  cultivated  in  Italy  in  later  ages.  The  verse 
chronicle  was  contmued  by  Geoffrey  of  Viterbo,  who,  in  his 
Universal  History,  written  about  the  year  11 90,  entitled 
**  Pantheon,"  introduced  among  the  prose  sections  numerous 
passages  composed  in  a  metre  invented  by  himself  (strophes 
of  three  hexameters,  of  which  only  the  second  and  third 
rhyme).^  In  this  same  form  is  composed  also  the  longer 
poem,  "  Gesta  Frederici,"  a  dry  enumeration  of  events  in  a 
prosaic  style.  Geoffrey,  by  the  way,  was  almost  more  of  a 
German  than  an  Italian,  lived  constantly  at  the  court  of  the 
Emperor,  and  appears  not  to  have  returned  to  his  native 
city  of  Viterbo  till  he  had  grown  old.  A  certain  Master 
Peter  of  Eboli  celebrated  in  distichs  the  subjugation  of 
the  kingdom  of  Sicily  by  Henry  VI.  It  is  a  bombastic 
panegyric,  which  calls  the  Emperor  not  only  Caesar  and 
Augustus,  but  also  Jupiter,  and  Tonans,  or  Sol,  nay,  even 
compares  him  with  Christ,  and  extols  his  cruelties  as  acts  of 
justice.  At  the  close  the  author,  in  a  servile  manner, 
petitions  for  a  gift,  at  the  same  time  presenting  his  book  to 
the  Emperor;  this  reward  he  appears  to  have  obtained  in 
the  shape  of  a  mill  at  Eboli.  He  wrote  between  11 94  and 
1 1 96,  shows  no  slight  acquaintance  with  the  classics,  and 
mastery  of  language  and  metre,  but  often  becomes  clumsy 
and  obscure  in  his  efforts  to  be  sublime  and  distinguished."^ 
More  worthy  of  attention  is  a  didactic  poem  which  enjoyed 
great  popularity  in  the  Middle  Ages,  was  read  in  the 
grammar  schools,  and  later  translated  into  Italian,  the 
"Elegia  de  Diversitate  Fortunae  et  Philosophiae  Consolatione" 
of  Henricus  Pauper,  or  Henricus  Septimellensis,  as  he  is 
called,  after  his  birthplace,  Settimello,  near  Florence.  The 
author  fell  from  a  state  of  happiness  into  poverty  and  misery, 
and  seeks  consolation  in  the  wisdom  which  he  had  formerly 
imbibed  in  Bologna.  In  the  poem  he  bewails  his  unhappy 
fate  and  the  inconstancy  of  the  Goddess  of  Fortune;  she 
appears  to  him,  and  he  disputes  with  her  without  coming  to  a 
reconciliation.  Thereupon  Philosophy  appears,  accompanied 
by  the  seven  Liberal  Arts,  and  reproaches  him  for  his  faint- 


i  (( 


Mon.  Germ.  Script.,"  xxii. 
^  **Des   Magisters   Petrus  de  Ebulo  Liber  ad  honorem  Augusti," 
herausgegeben  von  Ed.  Winkelmann.     Leipzig,  1874. 


I 


i 


42      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

heartedness.  The  situation  is  the  same  as  in  the  famous 
book  of  Boethius  ;  from  him  the  author  took  the  idea  of  his 
poem,  but  he  proceeds  independently  in  the  working  out  of 
the  details.  Remarkable  is  the  lightness  of  the  Christian 
colouring  with  which  Henricus's  ethics  are  tinged.  There 
is  only  a  cursory  exhortation  to  trust  in  the  goodness  of  God 
(iv.  55);  for  the  rest,  the  consolation  of  philosophy  consists, 
not  in  the  hope  of  reward  after  death,  but  in  pointing  to  the 
necessary  inconstancy  of  fortune,  to  the  fame  and  honour 
that  follow  in  the  wake  of  steadfastness,  and  to  the  dangers 
to  which  men  in  exalted  positions  are  exposed.  The  real 
remedies  against  pain  and  despair  are  given  in  the  last  book, 
and  take  the  form  of  a  long  series  of  trivial  maxims,  rules 
for  the  conduct  of  life,  and  directions  for  virtuous  behaviour. 
And  so  philosophy,  which  in  Boethius,  as  the  true  teacher 
of  wisdom,  treats  the  highest  metaphysical  questions,  has 
here  become  a  somewhat  vulgar  moral  preacher.  The  poet 
draws  the  examples  for  his  teachings  for  the  most  part  from 
antiquity,  now  and  again  from  the  Bible  and  the  tales  of 
chivalry ;  but  some  of  them  are  taken  from  his  own  time, 
and,  since  mention  is  here  made  of  Henry  VL's  first  un- 
successful expedition  to  Sicily,  to  the  murder  of  Conrad  of 
Montferrat,  and  to  the  capture  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  as 
of  events  that  had  recently  occurred,  we  see  that  the  poem 
was  composed  about  the  year  1192.  Especially  when  the 
author  speaks  of  the  increasing  wickedness  of  the  world,  he 
effectively  touches  the  affairs  of  his  own  time  in  words  that 
come  from  his  heart,  complains  of  the  corruption  of  the 
Papal  See,  the  venality  of  the  law,  the  general  oblivion  of 
God,  and  regards  as  the  punishment  for  all  this  the  universal 
misery,  the  famine,  the  victory  of  the  Saracens  in  the  Holy 
Land,  and  the  struggle  between  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
power,  which  strive  in  turn  to  usurp  each  other's  rights 
(iii.  244  seq.).  These  invectives  do  not  lack  poetical  power. 
In  several  other  passages,  as  in  the  laments  at  the  beginning 
of  the  book,  it  becomes  apparent  that  the  author  is,  much 
to  the  advantage  of  the  narrative,  relating  his  own 
experiences. 

In  other  countries  the  twelfth  century  was  a  flourishing 
period  for  Latin  poetry,  and  especially  in  France,  where  this 
was  altogether  an  age  that  has  rarely  been  equalled  for  the 


1 


MEDIEVAL  LATIN   LITERATURE 


43 


deep  interest  taken  in  science  and  literature.  There  it  was 
that  a  man  like  Hildebert  of  Tours  wrote  his  poetry,  who  in 
some  of  his  pieces,  as  in  the  two  beautiful  elegies  on  the 
ruins  of  Rome,  gives  proof  of  an  inspiration  and  a  purity  of 
form  that  are  almost  classical.  There,  too,  wrote  such  men 
as  Guilelmus  Armoricus,  the  author  of  the  *' PhiHppeis,"  and 
GautierofChatillon,  whose  "Alexandreis"  almost  supplanted 
Virgil  in  the  schools.  England  possessed  men  like  Joseph 
of  Exeter,  Germany  the  "  Ligurinus  "  of  Gunther.  Poems 
so  perfect  in  their  way  were  not  produced  in  Italy  at  that 
period.  But  classical  studies  had  altogether  made  such 
brilliant  progress  in  France,  that  the  Italians  could  scarcely 
compete  with  them.  Just  as  medicine  was  studied  in 
Salerno,  law  in  Bologna,  and  theology  in  Paris,  so  Orleans  was 
famous  as  the  true  seat  for  the  study  of  the  classical  authors, 
and  attracted  students  from  all  parts.  The  Ars  dictandi  was 
also  cultivated  there,  and  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  the 
bitter  Master  Boncompagno,  in  the  passage  where  he 
inveighs  against  the  instruction  given  in  Bologna,  and  calls 
it  superstitiosam  Aurelianensium  doctrinam^  boastingly  says 
of  himself  that  he  intended  to  take  his  pupils  back  "  to  the 
style  of  the  Holy  Fathers,  of  the  Roman  see,  and  of  the 
imperial  court,"  and  does  not  mention  the  classics  as  models. 
Also  the  most  distinguished  grammatical  theorists  of  that 
time  were  not  Italians,  but  an  Englishman,  Gaufridus  de 
Vinosalvo,  a  Belgian,  Eberard  of  Bethune,  and  a  French- 
man, Alexander  of  Villedieu.  The  reason  why  the  Italians 
had  again  been  surpassed  by  the  others  in  the  study  of  these 
sciences  must  apparently  be  sought  for  in  their  tastes,  which 
were  practical  before  all  things,  and  which  had  caused  them 
to  direct  their  attention  to  a  limited  field. 

But  if  the  classical  culture  of  the  Middle  Ages  attained  a 
higher  stage  of  development  in  France,  it  was,  on  the  other 
hand,  more  widely  diffused  among  the  people  of  Italy,  where 
it  had  penetrated  more  deeply  than  in  other  countries  into 
the  life  and  thought  of  the  nation.  The  German  chronicler, 
Otto  of  Freisingen,  who  accompanied  Barbarossa  on  his 
first  expedition,  found  this  diffusion  of  education  and  culture 
in  Northern  Italy,  this  approach  to  the  Roman  civiUsation, 
worthy  of  remark  ("De  Reb.  Gest.  Frid.,"  ii.  12).  The 
patriotic  feelings  that  the  thoughts  of  antiquity  could  not 


44      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

fail  to  arouse  among  the  Italians,  caused  this  people  to  be 
in  closer  contact  with  classical  times  than  other  nations. 
These  were  national  recollections  with  which  they  occupied 
themselves,  recollections  of  the  power  and  greatness  of  their 
own  country,  which  came  to  them  from  the  monuments  and 
literary  works ;  the  Italian  national  idea  itself  arose  in  the 
first  place  from  the  study  of  antiquity.  The  revived  culture, 
the  forms  of  the  political  constitution  which  resembled  those 
of  antiquity,  were  regarded  as  direct  Unks  with  the  brilliant 
periods  of  Rome,  and  whatever  had  occurred  in  the  mean- 
time was  considered  merely  as  a  transitory  diversion  and 
degeneration,  as  an  eclipse  of  the  old  condition  of  things, 
which  they  should  strive  to  restore  in  its  perfection.  And 
in  this  way  there  gradually  sprang  up  among  the  Italians  the 
opinion,  which  has  not  yet  entirely  died  out,  that  the  invasion 
of  the  German  tribes,  from  which,  after  all,  the  new  state  of 
affairs  took  its  origin,  had  done  nothing  but  interrupt  a 
regular  course  of  development,  and  that  this  new  condition 
of  things  was  a  reaction  against  the  invasion.  Men  wished 
to  become  Romans  again,  and  hated  the  barbarians,  now 
in  their  turn  overcome,  for  having  put  an  end  to  the  noble 
Roman  sway,  as  though  they  had  cut  short  a  flourishing 
epoch  of  culture  ;  whereas  they  had  in  reality  given  the  coup 
de  grace  to  a  diseased  civilisation,  and,  by  this  very  means, 
made  possible  a  new  period  of  development. 

In  this  way  the  spirit  of  classical  antiquity,  though  it 
might  for  a  time  stand  out  more  conspicuously  elsewhere, 
was  always  most  deeply  rooted  among  the  Italians,  to  whom 
it  expressed  their  own  past.  In  France  and  in  the  other 
countries,  this  medieval  Renaissance  was  not  of  long  dura- 
tion :  it  was  exhausted  in  the  first  decades  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  the  interest  in  grammar  and  poetry  gave  way  to 
the  zeal  for  scholastic  dialectics  and  metaphysics,  which 
filled  men's  minds.  In  Italy,  on  the  other  hand,  the  classical 
influence  is  continually  on  the  increase,  and  at  last,  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  brings  about  the  Renaissance  of  modern 
times. 

Of  a  really  living  Latin  literature  medieval  Italy  possessed 
very  little.  The  works  which  were  produced  in  those  ages 
are  monuments  of  the  spirit  of  the  times  and  of  the  degree 
of  culture  then  prevailing ;  literary  value  they  do  not,  as  a 


MEDIEVAL  LATIN   LITERATURE 


45 


rule,  possess.  The  Latin  poetry  of  the  Middle  Ages  is 
essentially  a  poetry  of  the  schools,  a  repetition  of  formulas 
and  commonplaces,  a  product  of  erudition,  not  an  in- 
dependent creation.  And  Italy,  as  we  have  seen,  did  not 
even  produce  works  so  perfect  in  point  of  form  as  other 
countries.  It  is  true  that  there  existed  a  branch  of  Latin 
poetry  which  possessed  more  vitality,  and  which  approached 
the  popular  manner  in  language  and  rhythmical  form.  On 
the  one  hand  we  have  the  religious  lyrical  poetry,  those 
hymns  that  were  inspired  by  deep  feeling,  harmonious  in 
sound  and  effective  in  their  simple  expression,  such  as  some 
among  those  of  Damian  -,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  in  direct 
contrast,  the  songs  of  the  wandering  students,  with  their 
boisterous  love  of  life,  their  fresh  feeling  for  Nature  and 
their  keen  satire  against  the  Church.  But  in  the  production 
of  just  this  poetry  of  the  Vagantes  or  Goliards,  the  Italians 
had  no  share  at  all,  or,  at  any  rate,  a  most  insignificant  one. 
The  reason  for  this  probably  is  that,  as  Giesebrecht  well 
remarked,  the  poetry  of  the  Vagantes  is  related  to  the  poetry 
composed  in  the  vulgar  tongue.  In  France,  Germany,  and 
England  it  is  contemporaneous  with  the  latter,  influenced  by 
it,  and  perhaps  even  entirely  due  to  it.  In  Italy,  therefore, 
where  the  vulgar  poetry  began  later,  it  is  not  till  the  thirteenth 
century  that  we  find  a  fair  number  of  rhythmical  poems 
which  at  least  recall  those  of  the  Goliards.  Such  are  Master 
Boncampagno's  poem  in  derision  of  Frate  Giovanni  of 
Vicenza,  a  portion  of  which  is  quoted  by  Salimbene  (p.  38) ; 
the  song  in  praise  of  wine  ("  Vinum  dulce  gloriosum  ")  by 
the  grammarian  Morandus  of  Padua ;  the  satire,  attributed 
to  Pier  della  Vigna,  directed  against  the  Dominicans  and 
Franciscans,  who  wish  to  have  a  share  in  politics,  and  thus 
sow  discord  between  Pope  and  Emperor  ("Vehementi 
nimium  commotus  dolore  ")  ;  and  others  of  the  same  kind. 

A  living  literature  needs  a  spoken  tongue  for  its  proper 
expression.  Now,  Latin  was,  it  is  true,  frequently  used,  in 
the  churches,  in  pubHc  documents,  and  in  legal  transactions  : 
here  it  was  corrupted  and  impregnated  with  the  vulgar 
tongue,  and  it  was  just  in  this  transformed  and  defiled  state 
that  it  may  be  said  to  have  had  a  certain  amount  of  life,  as 
is  shown  in  the  rhythmical  compositions  or  in  the  prose  of  a 
writer  like  Fra  Salimbene,  though  also  in  this  case  not  before 


I*  :f 


n 


46      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

the  vulgar  tongue  began  to  be  set  down  in  writing.  And  an 
irregular,  individual  treatment  of  the  Latin  could  not  result 
in  a  permanent  literary  idiom.  On  the  other  hand,  a  tem- 
porary revival,  at  least,  was  possible  at  a  period  of  the  greatest 
enthusiasm  for  the  classical  age,  when  this  age  began  to  live 
again  in  men's  minds,  and  when  its  language  was  spoken 
almost  as  the  natural  tongue.  But  these  times  of  the  Re- 
naissance were  still  far  distant,  and  they  would  probably 
never  have  come  at  all,  if  they  had  not  been  preceded  by  a 
long  period  of  literature  in  the  vulgar  tongue. 

This  new  Romance  language,  which  had  developed  from 
the  Latin  in  the  mouths  of  the  people,  had  already  existed  for 
a  long  time.  From  the  seventh  century  onwards,  words,  and 
especially  names  of  persons  and  places,  become  in  the  Latin 
documents  more  and  more  frequent  in  the  vulgar  form. 
In  the  ninth  century  the  poem  on  the  Emperor  Lewis's 
capture,  among  other  pieces,  proves  clearly  enough,  with  its 
corrupt  Latin,  the  existence  of  Italian.  In  the  year  960  a 
short  sentence  in  the  vulgar  tongue  is  found  for  the  first 
time  in  a  document  of  Monte  Cassino.  Almost  entirely  in 
the  vernacular  are  a  Sardinian  document  and  a  formula  of 
confession  from  Central  Italy,  both  of  the  eleventh  century^ 
while  we  have  further  Sardinian  documents  as  well  as  some 
Italian  inscriptions  belonging  to  the  twelfth  century.  But 
the  Uterary  use  of  this  new  idiom,  in  other  words,  Italian 
literature,  does  not  begin  till  later,  while  the  Provencal  and 
Old  French  literatures  go  back  to  the  tenth  and  eleventh 
centuries  and  had  already  attained  their  highest  perfection 
in  the  twelfth.  On  the  other  hand,  all  efforts  to  discover 
Italian  literary  monuments  going  back  beyond  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century  have  hitherto  been  futile,  and  all 
the  supposed  discoveries  of  this  kind  have  proved  to  be 
illusions.  For  either  it  was  merely  a  question  of  forgery,  or 
the  assumed  date  turned  out  to  be  erroneous.  The  former 
was  the  case  with  the  so-called  **  Carte  d'Arborea,"  which 
made  such  a  sensation  and  which  gave  rise  to  a  fierce  contro- 
versy :  their  apocryphal  character  is,  however,  now  univers- 
ally admitted,  save  for  the  few  cases  in  which  their  champions' 
eyes  are  closed  by  false  patriotism  or  personal  vanity.  These 
manuscripts,  which  are  called  after  the  supposed  place  of 
their   origin,   Oristano,    the   ancient   seat  of  the  regoli  of 


I 

i 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN    LITERATURE 


47 


Arborea  in  Sardinia,  were  first  made  known  in  1845  ^^^  the 
following  years  by  the  Minorite  Cosimo  Monca  and  were, 
for  the  greater  part,  sold  to  the  library  of  Cagliari.  There 
were  altogether  forty-four  codices  and  pages,  containing 
poetry  and  prose  in  vulgar  Latin,  classical  I^atin,  Sardinian 
and  Tuscan.  The  very  quantity  of  this  material  could  not 
fail  to  arouse  suspicion.  The  forgers  had  not  considered 
that  such  an  extensive  literary  activity,  which  was  supposed, 
according  to  them,  to  have  fallen  in  the  twelfth  century, 
must  have  left  some  traces  on  succeeding  ages,  and  that  it 
was  difficult  to  understand  how  Dante,  who  has  written 
about  the  beginnings  of  Italian  poetry,  should  have  been 
entirely  unaware  of  its  existence.  Besides,  the  poems  them- 
selves are  either  completely  modern  in  character,  or  testify 
to  an  antiquity  which  betrays  itself  as  artificial  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  imitated  models  are  often  misunderstood,  while 
the  historical  portion  of  the  manuscripts  is  full  of  anachron- 
isms and  absurd  statements. 

Genuine,  but  not  so  old  as  was  long  thought,  is  a  poem  in 
the  Apulian  dialect,  contained  in  an  eleventh  century  manu- 
script in  the  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino,  and  accordingly 
known  as  the  "  Ritmo  Cassinese."  In  the  portion  preserved 
it  is  difficult  to  understand ;  in  many  passages,  indeed,  it  is 
still  entirely  enigmatical,  and  apparently  written  intentionally 
in  a  mysterious  style  by  the  author,  who  was  evidently  a 
monk.  For  the  benefit  of  the  listeners  a  conversation  is 
reported  between  a  man  from  the  East  and  another  from  the 
West,  which  is  probably  intended  as  a  panegyric  on  the  dis- 
cipline of  S.  Benedict.  All  this,  however,  is  of  smaller 
interest  to  us  now,  seeing  that  the  poem  has  lost  its  vener- 
able claim  as  the  earliest  monument  of  the  language.  A 
conjecture,  put  forward  by  D'Ancona  in  1870,  to  the  effect 
that  the  leaf  in  question  of  the  codex  was  not  written  on  in 
the  eleventh  century  like  the  rest,  but  at  a  later  date,  has  been 
proved,  through  the  researches  of  Giorgi  and  Navone,  to  be 
perfectly  correct,  and  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  our  assign- 
ing the  poem  to  the  thirteenth  century. 

In  the  collections  of  the  oldest  lyrical  poets,  there  is  a 
canzone  by  a  certain  Messer  Folcacchieri  of  Siena,  in  which 
Father  De  Angelis,  and  others  after  him,  thought  they  had 
discovered  an  allusion  to  the  period  following  the  Peace  of 


48      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Venice  ( 1 1 7  7).    But  these  utterances  concerning  the  peaceful 
state  of  the  whole  world  are  of  a  very  general  nature,  and 
might  just  as  well  refer  to  a  different  time ;  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  Curzio  Mazzi  recently  proved  that  the  poet  lived  about 
the  year  1250.     Of  other  poems  to  which  formerly  too  early 
a  date  was  assigned,  the  **  Rosa  fresca  aulentissima  "  and  the 
"  Intelligenzia,"  it  is  needless  to  speak  in  this  place,  as  they 
will  have  to  be  treated  more  fully  later  on.     To  prove  that 
poetry  was  composed  in  Italy  as  early  as  the  twelfth  century 
a  passage  of  the  Dante  commentator  Jacopo  della  Lana 
(referring  to  "Par."  xx.  61)  has  often  been  quoted;  it  has, 
together  with  so  many  others,  passed  over  from  his  com- 
mentary into  others.     In   a   laudatory   description  of  the 
court  of  King  William  the  Good  at  Palermo,  Jacopo  also 
mentions  the  excellent  poets  and  singers  who  had  assembled 
there.     However,  he  does  not  say  that  the  singers  at  this 
Norman  court  were  Italians,  and  not  Frenchmen  perchance 
or  Provencals,  and  even  if  he  had  said  so,  it  would  surely  be 
a  strange  proceeding  to  set  the  authority  of  a  Dante  com- 
mentator over  that  of  Dante  himself,  who  knows  nothing  of 
these  poets  in  his  book  "  De  Eloquentia  Vulgari." 

It  is,  indeed,  quite  correct  to  say  that  the  poetry  of  a 
nation  does  not  begin  suddenly,  or  with  the  date  at  which 
the  first  monuments  appear.  The  people  are  sure  to  have 
sung  earlier  than  this,  and  in  Italy,  too,  popular  songs  may 
have  already  existed.  But  a  distinction  must  be  drawn 
between  these  and  a  continuous  literary  development,  and, 
after  all,  the  history  of  literature  can  only  occupy  itself  with 
real  documents,  and  not  with  vague  conjectures  concerning 
things  which  may  have  existed  previously,  and  of  which  no 
account  has  come  down  to  us. 

If,  therefore,  the  Romance  language  that  had  long  been 
spoken  was  not  put  to  literary  uses  till  so  late  a  period,  this 
must  be  accounted  for  by  the  powerful  spirit  of  classicism 
which  had,  in  this  country,  begun  to  dominate  every  walk 
of  life,  and  whose  influence  determined  the  course  of  Italian 
literature  from  the  very  outset.  Here  Latin  was  more 
powerful,  as  set  against  the  idiom  that  had  sprung  from  it, 
than  elsewhere,  and  it  took  longer  for  the  latter  to  venture 
into  publicity.  Just  as  people  felt  themselves  to  be  the 
descendants  of  the  old  Romans,  so,  too,  the  language  of 


MEDIEVAL   LATIN   LITERATURE 


49 


Rome  was  regarded  as  the  true  Italian  language,  and  the 
other,  which  was  spoken,  as  a  mere  corruption  of  it,  was 
held  to  be  suitable  for  intercourse  and  for  every-day  use, 
but  not  for  the  expression  of  the  higher  intellectual  ideas. 
This  was  a  prejudice  which  lasted  for  a  long  time,  which 
Dante  attacked  energetically,  though  he  was  not  entirely 
free  from  it  himself,  which  was  revived  in  an  aggravated 
form  after  him,  and  which  did  not  altogether  disappear  till 
the  sixteenth  century.  Italian,  just  because  it  approached 
nearest  to  Latin,  and  had  grown  up  on  the  same  soil  on 
which  this  tongue  had  flourished,  was  later  than  the  other 
Romance  idioms  in  awakening  to  consciousness  as  an  in- 
dependent language  and  as  a  medium  for  literary  expression. 


1 


I. 


II 


THE  SICILIAN   SCHOOL   OF    POETRY 

T  N  this  way,  Italy  was  still  without  a  literature  at  a  time 
-■-  when  its  western  neighbour  had  already  produced  two, 
the  Provencal  and  Old  French,  each  of  them  well  de- 
veloped. These  literatures,  which  were  held  in  high 
esteem  throughout  Europe,  could  not  fail  to  exercise  an 
exceptionally  wide  influence  in  a  country  which  was  itself 
comparatively  unproductive.  The  poems  of  the  troubadours 
inspired  the  first  attempts  at  lyrical  poetry,  while  the  French 
chansons  de  gesfe  and  romances  supplied  the  subject-matter 
for  narrative  poetry,  no  suitable  themes  having  sprung  up 
on  Italian  soil.  The  influence  of  the  troubadours  made 
itself  felt  earher  than  that  of  the  French  poems. 

The  political  and  commercial  relations  that  had,  for  ages, 
existed  between  Northern  Italy  and  the  South  of  France, 
paved  the  way  for  an  intellectual  intercourse  between  the 
two  countries.  The  Provencal  troubadours,  who  loved  a 
roving  life,  and  who  went  from  court  to  court,  appearing 
wherever  they  could  gain  fame  for  their  songs,  gifts  from 
the  princes  and  the  favour  of  their  mistresses,  came  to  Italy 
from  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  perhaps  even  earlier. 
Peire  Vidal  was  one  of  the  most  restless  among  them,  living 
now  in  Provence,  now  in  Spain,  now  in  Hungary,  and  now 
in  the  East.  In  1189  he  appears  to  have  been  for  a  short 
time  in  Genoa,  after  which  he  lived  with  the  Margrave 
Boniface  II.  in  Monferrato  and  in  other  parts  of  Northern 
Italy,  where  he  sang  the  praises  of  a  fair  Lombard  lady 
(1194);  in  1205  he  was  on  the  island  of  Malta  with  Count 
Henry,  perhaps  after  taking  part  in  the  crusade  to  Con- 
stantinople. Raimbaut  de  Vaqueiras  came,  in  the  last  de- 
cade of  the  twelfth  century,  to  the  court  of  the  Margrave 
Boniface    who   was   delighted   with   his   art,  dubbed  him 


V 


I  i 


THE  SICILIAN   SCHOOL  OF  POETRY 


SI 


knight,  and  made  him  his  brother-in-arms.  Raimbaut  paid 
homage  to  the  prince's  sister,  Beatrix  (the  wife  of  Henry 
of  Carret),  whom  he  celebrated  in  his  poems  under  the 
pseudonym  of  Bels  Cavaliers,  and  if  we  may  believe  an 
anecdote  recorded  in  the  old  Provengal  biography  of  the 
poet,  this  love  aflair  ripened  into  an  intimacy  of  the  closest 
nature.  In  11 94  Raimbaut  accompanied  the  Margrave, 
together  with  Henry  VL,  on  his  expedition  to  Sicily, 
rescuing  him  from  great  peril  at  Messina.  In  1202  he 
followed  him  in  the  Crusade,  and  appears  to  have  fallen  at 
his  side ;  the  old  biography  at  least  testifies  to  his  having 
died  in  Greece.  Later  on,  especially  when  the  terrible  wars 
of  the  Albigenses  devastated  the  South  of  France  and  put 
a  sudden  end  to  the  flourishing  culture  of  those  parts,  the 
troubadours  sought  refuge  in  Italy  with  increasing  fre- 
quency ;  the  best  known  among  those  who  went  in  the 
first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century  were  Aimeric  de  Pegul- 
han,  Gaucelm  Faidit,  and  Uc  de  S.  Circ.  Italian  princes 
and  Italian  ladies  were  in  those  times  often  extolled  in 
Provencal  songs,  among  the  latter  especially  Beatrix  d'Este, 
the  daughter  of  Azzo  VL,  and  Emilia  di  Ravenna,  the  wife 
of  Pietro  Traversari. 

The  courts  which  the  troubadours  frequented  most  were 
those  of  Northern  Italy,  especially  those  of  the  Margraves  of 
Monferrato  and  of  the  Estes  in  Ferrara.  But  they  also  went 
farther  south.  Thus,  for  example,  Uc  de  S.  Circ  was  in 
Pisa,  and  Guillem  de  la  Tor  in  Florence ;  Peire  Vidal  stayed 
in  Malta,  and  Raimbaut  de  Vaqueiras  fought  in  Sicily,  as 
we  have  seen.  At  the  court  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II. 
these  poets  are  sure  not  to  have  been  strangers.  This  was, 
as  Dante  says,  the  meeting-place  of  all  the  most  distinguished 
men  from  far  and  near.  The  "  Cento  Novelle  Antiche  " 
tell  of  Frederick's  liberality  and  courtesy,  and  the  panegyrics 
showered  on  him  by  the  Proven9al  poets  prove  that  he 
must  have  been  very  gracious  to  them.  Aimeric  de  Pegul- 
han  sang  his  praises,* when  still  young,  in  the  canzone  "En 
aquel  temps,"  under  the  image  of  the  good  physician  of 
Salerno,  who  heals  the  ills  of  the  time,  and  restores  the 
courtly  virtues,  after  they  had  been  lost  sight  of  on  the 
death  of  the  former  noble  patrons.  It  is  true  that  we  have 
no  definite  testimony  concerning  individual  poets  who  lived 


52      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

with  him ;  but  the  old  Provencal  biographies  are  altogether 
very  meagre,  and  from  their  silence  it  is  impossible  to  draw 
any  conclusions.  As  Fauriel  rightly  remarked,  Frederick  IL 
also  had  political  reasons  for  favouring  several  of  these 
troubadours,  who  were  indignant  at  the  wars  of  the  Albi- 
genses,  and  made  violent  attacks  on  the  Holy  See.  The 
passionate  invectives  of  poets  like  Guillem  Figueira  could 
not  fail  to  stir  up  the  people  more  effectually  than  the  most 
skilful  Latin  pamphlet,  and  might  be  used  by  the  Emperor 
as  a  weapon  in  his  struggle  against  the  Popes. 

The  troubadours  who  came  to  Italy  were  wont  to  take  an 
active  part  in  the  political  affairs  of  the  country,  which  were, 
after  all,  intimately  connected  with  those  of  their  native 
land.  They  took  sides  in  the  struggles  between  the  Guelphs 
and  Ghibellines,  or  between  the  jealous  communes,  and  not 
a  few  of  their  poems  have  reference  to  Italian  affairs.  Peire 
Vidal  extols  the  people  of  Pisa  and  inveighs  against  the 
Genoese  who  had  been  humbled  by  them.  He  exhorts  the 
citizens  of  Milan  and  Pavia  to  be  good  friends,  and  warns 
the  Lombards  in  general  to  be  on  their  guard  against  the 
German  robbers,  so  that  their  lot  may  not  be  that  of  the 
conquered  Apulians  (1194:  "Bon'  aventura  don  deus  als 
Pizas  ").  Peire  de  la  Cavarana  encouraged  the  Lombards 
to  resist  the  Emperor  Henry  in  his  spirited  serventese^ 
"D'un  serventes  faire"  (1195),  which  was  much  influenced 
by  the  song  of  the  poet  of  Toulouse.  Peire  Guillem  de 
Luzerna  urged  the  Emperor  Frederick  to  proceed  with 
greater  energy  against  the  haughty  city  of  Milan  ("  En  aquest 
gai  sonet  leugier  ").  Uc  de  S.  Circ,  in  a  poem  addressed  to 
Count  Guido  Guerra  and  other  Italian  Guelphs,  gives  vent 
to  his  hatred  of  the  heretical  Frederick,  warns  those  that 
side  with  him  of  the  ruin  that  threatens  them,  and  calls  on 
France  and  the  Church  to  form  an  alliance,  and  to  direct 
the  crusade  towards  Italy,  with  a  view  to  conquering  the 
kingdom  :  "  For  he  who  does  not  believe  in  God,  shall  not 
rule  "  {circa  1148  :  *'  Un  sirventes  vuelh  far  ").  The  poem 
of  an  unknown  author,  which  has  been  wrongly  ascribed  to 
Peire  Vidal,  who  had  been  long  dead  at  that  time,  is  a  song 
of  victory  over  the  Florentines  conquered  at  Monte  Aperti 
(1260),  and  celebrates  King  Manfred,  whose  horsemen  had 
carried  the  day  ("  Quor  qu'om  trobes  Florentis  orgulhos  "). 


THE  SICILIAN   SCHOOL  OF   POETRY 


53 


l|f" 


It  will  be  seen  that  these  roving  minstrels  did  not  remain 
strangers  in  the  country  of  their  wanderings.  Raimbaut  de 
Vaqueiras  even  employed  the  Italian  language  in  two  of  his 
poems.  He  wrote  a  so-called  Descorf,  a  poem  in  which 
each  stanza  is  composed  in  a  different  idiom,  and  the  second 
of  these,  as  well  as  a  portion  of  the  refrain,  are  in  Italian. 
He  is  also  the  author  of  a  jocose  dialogue,  in  which  his 
declarations  of  love  are  treated  with  contempt  by  a  Genoese 
lady ;  she  is  made  to  speak  in  the  dialect  of  her  native  town, 
which  is  well  suited  to  the  nature  of  her  replies.  These 
verses  by  a  Provencal  are  the  oldest,  or  nearly  the  oldest,  in 
the  Italian  language  that  have  as  yet  come  to  light,  for  they 
must  have  been  written  before  the  year  1202,  in  which 
Raimbaut  left  Italy  never  to  return. 

The  troubadours  remained  in  Italy  till  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  at  which  time  Provencal  lyrical  poetry, 
generally,  lost  all  importance.  The  great  impression  these 
poems  made,  and  the  general  applause  with  which  they  were 
received,  induced  native  poets  to  imitate  them,  and  in 
Northern  Italy  those  who  attempted  to  reproduce  the 
art  of  the  Provengals,  also  employed  for  this  purpose  the 
Provencal  tongue.  This  language  was  well  known  owing  to 
the  manifold  relations  existing  with  the  South  of  France, 
and  it  was  easily  learnt,  because  the  dialects  spoken  in  those 
parts  resembled  it  fairly  closely.  Besides,  it  was  more 
natural  to  adopt  the  language  of  the  models  together  with 
the  poetical  tradition,  than  to  raise  the  native  dialects,  which 
were  still  in  an  uncultivated  state,  to  the  dignity  of  a  literary 
idiom.  The  oldest  of  these  Italians  composing  Provencal 
poetry  that  are  known  to  us  are  the  Margraves  Manfred  IL, 
Lancia  and  Albert  Malaspina,  of  whom  the  former  was 
engaged  in  a  te?tzone  with  Peire  Vidal,  the  latter  with 
Raimbaut  de  Vaqueiras.  Of  Manfred  nothing  has  come 
down  to  us  except  the  two  stanzas  of  this  tenzone  that  be- 
long to  him,  of  Albert  nothing  but  the  tenzone  and  a  love 
dialogue,  "Dona,  a  vos  me  comen."  The  first  writer  of 
whom  a  larger  number  of  poems  is  extant,  is  the  Bolognese 
Rambertino  Buvallello,  who  was  in  1201  Podest^  of  Brescia, 
and  afterwards  occupied  the  same  office  in  other  towns  of 
Northern  Italy  (1208  in  Milan,  12 13  in  Parma,  1218-20  in 
Genoa) ;  he  probably  composed  his  poetry  between  the  years 


54      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

1209  and   121 2.     All  the  others  are  much   more   recent. 
Among  them  there  is  an  especially  large  number  of  Genoese, 
namely,  Lanfranco  Cigala,  who,  among  other  pieces,  com- 
posed  a   serventese  against  Bonifacio  III.  of  Monferrato, 
Simone    Doria,    Perceval    Doria,   Jacopo   Grillo,    Luchetto 
Gattilufio,  who  wrote  a  serventese  belonging  to  the  year  1262 
and  who  was  still  alive  in   1300,  and  Bonifacio  Calvi.     A 
certain    Nicoletto    of    Turin   was,    in    1238,    engaged    in 
a  tenzone  with   Joan   d'Albusso.      In    Ferrara,   where   the 
troubadours  were  welcome  guests  at  the  court  of  the  Este, 
Master  Ferrari,  in  the  second  half  of  the  century,  compiled 
a  collection  of  stanzas  selected   from  their  poems ;  of  his 
own  works,  only  one  cobla  has  been  preserved.     The  Ve- 
netian Bartolommeo  Zorzi,  who  was  prisoner  of  the  Genoese 
from  1266  till  1273,  in  a  canzone  defended  his  native  town, 
with  fervent  patriotism,  against  the  attacks  that  had  been  made 
on  it  by   Bonifacio   Calvi   in  one  of  his  poems  ;    he  also 
bewailed  the  deaths  of  Corradino  and  of  Saint  Louis  in  two 
beautiful  songs  of  lamentation.     The  most  famous  of  the 
Italian  troubadours  is  Sordello  of  Mantua,  who  was  praised 
by  Dante  in  his  book  "  De  Eloq.  Vulg.,"  and  idealised  in  the 
"  Purgatorio "  as  the  type  of  noble,   patriotic  pride.     His 
restless  life,  which  brought  him  into  close  contact  now  with 
persons  of  the  most  exalted  rank,  and  now  with  the  vulgarity, 
the  quarrels,  and  the  petty  jealousies  of  mercenary  minstrels, 
appears  to  have  little  in  common  with  the  imposing  figure 
created  by   Dante,   and  the  same   remark   applies   to  the 
majority  of  his  poems.     An  exception  is,  however,  formed 
by  x\i^  serventese  on  the  death  of  his  patron  Blacatz,  com- 
posed in  the  year  1237  :  this  is  filled  with  the  same  spirit  as 
the  famous  invective  against  the  negligent  princes  which  he 
is  made  made  to  utter  in  the  seventh  canto  of  the  "  Purga- 
torio," and  possibly  accounts  for  Dante's  sympathy  with  the 
poet.     After  the  death  of  the  noble  Blacatz,  he  can  see  no 
way  to  make  good  the  loss  unless  the  princes  eat  of  the  dead 
man's  heart,  so  as  to  acquire  the  courage  and  nobility  they 
lack  ;  and  his  enumeration  of  those  in  need  of  this  food,  de- 
velops into  a  bold  and  keen  satire  against  the  most  powerful 
rulers  of  his  time.     In  his  later  years,  Sordello  was  in  the 
service  of  Charies  of  Anjou,  and  probably  accompanied  him 
on  his  expedition  to  Naples.     In  1266  he  was  prisoner  in 


THE  SICILIAN   SCHOOL  OF  POETRY 


55 


I 


Naples,  but  according  to  the  old  biography  he  died  in 
Provence. 

The  works  of  all  these  poets  are  contained  in  the  old 
collections  of  the  troubadour  poetry,  where  they  form  a  por- 
tion of  Provencal  rather  than  of  Italian  literature;  the 
Proven^l  in  which  they  are  composed  can  scarcely  be 
distinguished  from  that  of  the  other  troubadours.  In 
Southern  Italy,  on  the  other  hand,  at  the  court  of  Frederick 
II.,  such  skill  in  the  use  of  the  foreign  tongue  could  only  be 
acquired  with  difificulty,  and  poetry  written  in  it  could  not 
have  been  expected  to  be  generally  understood :  and  so  the 
native  volgare  was  adopted.  That  is  probably  the  reason,  why 
Italian  artificial  poetry  began  in  Sicily.  In  Northern  Italy, 
the  poets  wrote  in  Provencal ;  in  Central  Italy  there  were  no 
brilliant  courts,  and  the  lyrics  that  were  being  imitated  were 
court  poetry.  But  the  Provencal  poetry  of  the  Italians  in 
the  North  must  not  be  regarded  as  a  transition  to  that  of  the 
South  composed  in  Italian,  as  has  been  done ;  if  we  except 
the  few  verses  of  the  Margraves  Lancia  and  Malaspina,  they 
are  both  contemporary,  and  the  poems  of  Zorzi  partly  be- 
long to  a  period  in  which  the  court  poetry  of  the  South  had 
already  died  out. 

In  Sicily  the  good  results  of  the  former  Arabian  rule  were 
still  apparent  in  the  prosperous  and  civilised  condition  of  the 
island,  and  Frederick  II.  did  his  utmost  to  preserve  this 
state  of  things  in  his  kingdom.  His  new  code  of  laws  (the 
Constitutions  of  Melfi),  while  increasing  the  absolute  power 
of  the  sovereign,  restricted  the  rights  of  the  restless  feudal 
nobility,  and  insured  order  and  justice,  which  was  strictly 
administered.  He  took  the  liveliest  interest  in  scientific 
studies,  and,  by  his  brilliant  example,  gave  such  an  impetus 
to  the  general  desire  for  culture  as  was  scarcely  equalled 
by  any  person  during  the  Middle  Ages.  He  founded 
the  University  of  Naples  (1224),  collected  in  his  library 
many  Arabian  and  Greek  manuscripts,  and  had  them  trans- 
lated into  Latin.  He  sent  translations  of  writings  of  Aris- 
totle that  were  as  yet  unknown  in  the  West,  and  of  other 
philosophers,  to  the  professors  at  Bologna,  so  that  they  might 
interpret  them  in  their  lectures  and  make  them  generally 
known,  together  with  the  philosophical  works  of  antiquity 
that  had  previously  been  in  use ;  and  it  is  beautiful  to  see,  in 


k 


S6      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

the  letter  accompanying  these  manuscripts,  how  Frederick 
regarded  the  promotion  of  scientific  studies  as  one  of  the 
duties  of  a  ruler,  by  the  side  of  his  other  tasks  ("  Epistolae 
Petri  de  Vineis,"  iii.  67). 

Rhetoric  flourished  at  the  court  of  the  Emperor.  His 
ministers  and  officials,  especially  Pier  della  Vigna,  the  most 
eminent  among  them,  were  masters  in  the  art  of  the  epistolary 
and  diplomatic  style  which  was  at  that  time  cultivated  with 
so  much  zeal.  This  is  shown  by  a  collection  of  documents, 
especially  those  of  Frederick  II.,  which  goes  by  the  name  of 
the  "  Letters  of  Pier  della  Vigna,"  while  it  is  in  other  manu- 
scripts more  suitably  entitled  "Summa  Magistri  Petri  de 
Vineis,"  or  "  Summa  Dictaminum,"  since  it  is  one  of  the 
collections  of  letters  then  in  vogue  which  were  intended  as 
models  of  style.  Here  we  note,  in  contrast  to  the  simplicity 
to  be  found  in  Boncompagno  and  others,  a  manifest  desire 
to  imitate  the  fulness  and  the  majesty  of  the  Latin  period ; 
but  the  necessary  skill  had  not  been  attained,  and  a  diction 
resulted,  that  was  ponderous,  twisted,  obscure,  and  frequently 
barbarous,  with  long,  involved  sentences.  They  thought 
they  had  attained  the  highest  standard  of  perfection,  and 
were  proud  of  it.  In  the  correspondence  of  Pier  della  Vigna 
with  the  Archbishop  of  Capua  and  the  notary  Nicolaus  de 
Rocca  we  have  veritable  rhetorical  contests,  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  which  was  to  demonstrate  the  skill  of  the  writer  in 
his  use  of  the  pen,  each  one  outvying  the  other  in  the  em- 
ployment of  exaggerated  compliments.  During  the  struggle 
with  the  Pope,  the  style  of  Frederick's  diplomatic  documents, 
which  were  mostly  drawn  up  by  Pier  della  Vigna,  and  of  the 
reports  of  his  subordinates  relating  to  public  affairs,  assumes 
a  special  character  by  reason  of  the  constant  note  of  ex- 
aggeration, and  of  the  frequent  use  of  Biblical  phrases  and 
images.  These  notaries  always  adopted  the  sanctimonious 
phraseology  common  to  sermons,  and,  indeed,  the  Emperor 
always  desired  to  have  the  Word  of  God  on  his  side,  and,  as 
the  true  defender  of  the  faith  in  its  purity  and  sanctity,  he 
opposed  the  corruption  of  the  Church. 

Among  the  followers  of  the  imperial  party  this  style  might, 
in  that  age  of  a  newly-awakened  religious  enthusiasm,  have 
been  the  result  of  sincere  conviction.  But  this  was  not  the 
case  with   Frederick  himself.     His   attitude   towards   the 


THE   SICILIAN   SCHOOL  OF   POETRY 


57 


I 


reUgious  movement  of  his  time  was  always  regulated  by 
poUtical  considerations;  he  favoured  the  desire  for  reform 
because  it  threatened  the  power  of  the  Pope,  and  had  the 
heretics  burnt,  because  he  saw  that  their  alliances  were  a 
danger  to  the  order  of  the  State.  The  Papal  party  accused 
him  himself  of  being  a  heretic  and  atheist,  attributed  to  him 
the  declaration  concerning  the  three  deceivers,  and  reproached 
him  with  denying  the  immortaHty  of  the  soul ;  Dante,  in 
spite  of  the  admiration  and  respect  he  felt  for  Frederick, 
shared  this  latter  belief  concerning  him,  and  placed  him  in 
Hell.  His  enemies  may  have  exaggerated,  but  everything 
points  to  the  fact  that  he  was  endowed  with  great  freedom 
of  opinions.  Though  he  was  himself  a  sceptic,  he  pretended 
to  be  strictly  orthodox,  persecuted  heresy,  that  is  to  say,  all 
sincere  doubt,  and  required  his  subjects  to  observe  the  out- 
ward forms  of  religion;  so  that  he  may  be  said  to  have 
initiated  in  Italy  that  religious  hypocrisy  and  indolent  ob- 
servance of  forms  and  ceremonials  which  became  general 
among  the  cultured  at  the  time  of  the  Renaissance.  Towards 
the  Mussulmans  the  feelings  of  the  emperor  were  tolerant, 
even  friendly.  A  division  of  the  Saracen  mercenaries  of 
Lucera  accompanied  the  crusading  army  to  the  Holy  Land. 
Frederick  stood  in  friendly  relations  with  the  Sultan  of 
Egypt;  he  sent  him  mathematical  problems,  in  order  to 
procure  from  him  their  solution.  To  Eastern  and  Western 
scholars  he  directed  certain  metaphysical  and  theological 
questions,  clearly  proving  to  us  that  he  was  a  sceptic. 
These  questions  were  answered  by  Ibn-Sab'in  at  the  request 
of  the  Caliph  Rashid  at  Ceuta.^  It  may,  therefore,  be 
doubted  whether  his  subsequent  wish  to  undertake  a  great 
crusade,  and  his  laments  at  the  loss  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
were  quite  genuine,  and  whether  he  was  not  rather,  in  this 
way,  playing  a  trump  card  against  the  Pope,  who  prevented 
the  execution  of  his  pious  plans. 

In  this  powerful  personality,  which  made  so  great  an  im- 
pression on  the  age,  we  see  at  all  points  a  great  similarity  to 
Eastern  potentates,  in  his  love  of  science,  in  his  absolute 
rule,  in  his  unscrupulousness  when  pursuing  his  political 
aims,  in  the  blend  of  magnanimity  and  cruelty,  in  the  heart- 

^  Amari,  1.  c,  p.  702. 


/ 


^ 


58      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

lessness,  with  which  he  caused  the  ruin  of  his  most  faithful 
servants,  such  as  Pier  della  Vigna,  as  soon  as  he  became  sus- 
picious, and,  finally,  in  his  sensuality.  Amari  justly  called  him 
and  King  Roger  "i  due  sultani  battezzati  di  Sicilia"  (iii. 
365).  To  the  Christians  of  the  West  his  court  appeared 
to  be  a  court  of  Mussulmans,  at  which  the  luxury  and  loose 
morals  of  the  East  prevailed.  Frederick  delighted  in  Saracen 
pantomimists  and  female  dancers,  kept  a  harem  at  Lucera, 
and  employed  eunuchs  by  whom  he  had  his  last  two  wiVes 
jealously  guarded.  Under  his  predecessors,  Arabian  poetry 
was  still  composed  at  this  court ;  but  in  the  earliest  Italian 
poetry  it  is  impossible  to  find  any  traces  of  Arabian  influence, 
which  could  no  longer  maintain  itself  against  the  popularity 
of  the  Proven(^al  love  poetry. 

To  the  poets  of  the  Italian  school  belong  the  Emperor 
Frederick  II.  himself,  his  son  Enzo,  King  of  Sardinia,  and 
Pier  della  Vigna,  of  Capua.  The  latter  was,  after  the  year 
1232,  very  prominent  in  public  affairs,  filling  the  highest 
offices  of  the  State  in  1247— as  Pronotary  of  the  Imperial 
Court  and  Logotheta  of  the  Kingdom  of  Sicily.  He  died 
a  tragic  death  in  1249,  after  falling  into  sudden  disgrace. 
Of  the  majority  of  the  others  who,  according  to  the  old 
collections,  were  authors  of  poems,  we  know  nothing  beyond 
the  name,  or,  at  most,  also  the  place  of  their  birth.  This 
is  the  case  with  Mazzeo  Ricco  of  Messina,  Rugieri  Apugliese, 
Ranieri  of  Palermo,  Rugerone  of  Palermo,  Rinaldo  d'Aquino 
and  others.  Jacopo  of  Lentini  is  always  called  Notary, 
and  he  was  himself  always  fond  of  giving  himself  in  his 
poems  the  title  of  Notary  of  Lentini,  thus  indicating  their 
authorship.  Istefano  of  Messina,  is  called  now  "Proto- 
notaro,"  now  "  Istefano  di  Pronto  Notaro."  Rugieri  d'Amici 
is,  perhaps,  identical  with  the  Rogerius  de  Amicis,  who  was, 
between  the  years  1240  and  1242,  employed  by  Frederick  II. 
in  important  offices  of  State,  and  as  ambassador  to  Saracen 
princes.  Guido  delle  Colonne,  of  Messina,  is  called  "giudice," 
and  a  certain  "judex  "  Guido  de  Columna  is  the  author  of  an 
"  Historia  Trojana  "  that  was  much  read  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
being  a  redaction  in  Latin  prose  of  Benoit  de  Ste.  More's 
"Roman  deTroie,"  in  the  style  of  historical  narrative.  Accord- 
ing to  a  note  at  the  end  of  this  work,  the  first  book  was  written 
in  1272,  and  the  whole  concluded  in  1287.     If  its  author  be 


THE  SICILIAN   SCHOOL  OF  POETRY 


59 


*t 


4 


really  identical  with  the  poet,  the  latter  must  have  attained 
a  great  age,  and  composed  his  poems  in  his  earlier  years. 

The  poetical  output  of  this  Sicilian  school,  primarily  an 
imitation  of  foreign  models  that  narrowed  its  scope,  could 
not  fail  to  lack  all  the  freshness  and  originality  which  mostly 
form  the  principal  elements  of  the  beginnings  of  a  national 
literature.     The  subject-matter  of  the  Provencal  poetry  is 
transferred  to  another  language,   without   undergoing  any 
change  in  the  process  beyond  sacrificing  much  of  its  rich- 
ness.    The  new  tongue  exercised  no  invigorating  influence. 
It  was  in  reality  nothing  but  a  new  dress  in  which  the  old 
subject  was  clothed,  and  this  innovation  could  not  possibly 
increase  the  aesthetic  value  of  the  poetry ;  on  the  contrary, 
the  still  more  unwieldy  idiom  caused  it  to  lo§e  much  of  the 
grace  and  elegance  it  had  originally  possessed^   The  theme 
of  the  troubadour  poetry,  chivalrous  love,  nt5W  reappears  in 
the  same  forms  that  had  previously  served  for  its  expression. 
Love  is  a  humble  and  suppliant  veneration  for  the  lady ;  it 
always  presents  itself  under  the  images  of  feudalism,  serving 
and  obeying— the  relation  of  the  vassal  to  the  liege  lord.    The 
lady  stands  high  above  the  lover,  who  bows  before  her, 
beseeching  her  for  grace ;  he  is  unworthy  to  ^erve  her,  but 
noble  love  levels  all  inequalities.    The  lady  is  cruel  and  lets 
him  languish  in  vain,  so  that  his  sufferings  bring  him  near 
to  death.     But  he  may  not  cease  to  love  her,  for  from  love 
comes  all  worth  and  all  excellence;  he  must  endure,  for 
faithful  service  will  bring  him  his  reward,  and  should  he 
suffer  and  die,  this  will  be  to  his  fame  and  honour,  as  it  is 
for  the  sake  of  the  noblest  of  ladies.     This  circle  of  ideas 
in  which  the  ProvenQal  love  poetry  moved,  had  in  Provencal 
literature  itself  given  rise  already  to  much  that  was  con- 
ventional and  monotonous.    But  in  Provence  it  was  at  home ; 
here  this  conception   of  love   had   developed,  having  its 
origin  in  an  actual  though  artificial  condition  of  things  exist- 
ing among  the  upper  classes.     On  that  account  the  earlier 
poetic  efforts,  at  any  rate,  do  not  lack  warmth  of  sentiment, 
and  the  absence  of  variety  in  the  subject-matter  is  often 
atoned  for  by  the  tenderness  and  delicacy  of  the  treatment. 
But  when  Provencal  poetry  was  to  bear  new  fruit  in  Italy,  it 
had  already  passed  the  period  of  its  full  splendour,  and  was 
rapidly  approaching  decline.    And  the  ideas  and  sentiments 


6o      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 


THE  SICILIAN   SCHOOL  OF   POETRY 


6i 


imported  from  a  foreign  country  only  remotely  resembled 
those  current  in  Italy.  There  chivalry,  in  its  ideal  significa- 
tion, had  never  properly  taken  root.  Splendid  feasts  were 
given  and  tournaments  were  held ;  people  pretended  to  be 
in  love,  after  the  fashion  of  the  troubadours,  and  composed 
songs  in  their  manner;  but  all  that  was  merely  superficial 
imitation  of  foreign  usages.  In  the  kingdom  of  Sicily  there 
was  a  powerful  and  warlike  feudal  nobility  -,  but  these  nobles 
were  kept  down  by  Frederick  II.,  who  endeavoured  to  put 
an  end  to  feudalism,  lawyers  of  civilian  descent,  like  Pier 
della  Vigna  and  Taddeo  of  Sessa  taking  precedence  of  them 
at  court.  As  for  the  homage  paid  to  ladies,  this  could  not  fail 
to  become  a  mere  fiction  at  a  court  where  oriental  customs 
still  prevailed,  where  the  emperor  kept  a  harem  and  had  his 
wives  guarded  by  eunuchs,  while  he  celebrated  the  fair  ones 
in  languishing  tones. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  oldest  Italian  lyrical  poetry  gives  us 
nothing  but  pale  conventionality,  both  as  regards  subject- 
matter  and  expression.  Madonna,  the  loved  one,  is  always 
the  same  image  of  abstract  perfection,  without  life  or  move- 
ment. Her  charms  and  virtues  are  depicted  only  in  the  most 
general  terms.  She  is  the  flower  of  women,  the  mirror  of 
beauty,  like  the  sweet-smelling  rose  and  the  morning  star; 
her  splendour  surpasses  that  of  pearls  and  jewels,  every 
excellent  quality  is  hers,  and  from  her  emanates  every  virtue 
that  the  poet  may  venture  to  attribute  to  himself.  Love  is 
also  an  abstraction,  a  personification  which  the  poet  addresses, 
and  to  which  he  complains  of  his  sufferings.  The  relations 
between  the  lovers  are  colourless  and  without  warmth,  nearly 
always  the  same  but  for  slight  modifications :  Madonna  is 
cold  and  inexorable,  the  lover  stoops  and  bends  down,  sighs 
and  hopes,  declares  his  eternal  fidelity  or  prays  for  some 
mitigation  of  his  tortures.  Thus,  for  example,  the  Emperor 
Frederick  sang : 

Valimento  mi  date,  donna  fina 
Che  lo  mio  core  adesso  a  voi  s'  inchina. 
S*  eo'  nchino,  ragion  n'  aggio 
Di  si  amoroso  bene 
Che  spero  e  vo  sperando, 
Che  ancora  credo  avere 
Allegro  mio  coraggio 
E  tutta  la  mia  spene 


; 


Ch'  6  data  in  voi  amando 

Ed  in  vostro  piacere ; 

E  veggio  li  sembianti 

Di  voi,  chiarita  spera, 

Ch'  aspetto  gioia  intera, 

Ed  6  fidanza  che  lo  meo  servere 

Aggia  a  piacere  a  voi  che  siete  fiore 

Sor  1'  altre  donne  e  avete  piii  valore.^ 

Where,  in  this  eulogy,  is  there  anything  of  Frederick's  in- 
dividuality ?  The  personality  of  the  poet  disappears,  and  it 
becomes  almost  a  matter  of  indifference  what  name  stands 
at  the  head  of  the  songs.  The  fife  of  the  authors  was  often 
chequered  and  stormy,  and  full  of  poetry ;  but  nothing  of 
this  passed  over  into  their  verses,  because  they  wrote  after  a 
type  common  to  them  all,  which  had  no  connection  with 
their  individual  sentiments. 

In  the  poems  of  the  South  that  have  come  down  to  us, 
direct  plagiarism  of  Provengal  poetry  is  very  rare,  and  even 
the  imitation,  general  as  it  was,  did  not  take  place  without 
strong  modifications.  Far  more  frequently  we  come  across 
ideas  that  are  well  known  to  us  from  Provencal  lyrics,  but 
which  do  not  necessarily  go  back  to  a  definite  original. 
They  are  commonplaces  which  everyone  had  in  mind  and 
employed  at  need ;  as,  for  example,  when  both  the  trouba- 
dours and  Sicilians  so  often  declare  that  they  prefer  serving 
their  mistress  without  any  reward  to  receiving  the  greatest 
favours  from  another ;  or  that  they  would  not  be  princes  or 
rulers  of  the  world  if  that  entailed  the  loss  of  their  lady. 
The  oldest  Italian  lyrical  poetry  is  full  of  these  common- 
places; it  is  possible  that  they  may  not  all  come  from 
Provence,  and  that  the  Italians  may  have  added  to  the  stock 
of  conventional  ideas.  But  on  the  whole,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected from  imitators,  their  range  of  thought  has  become 
smaller,  as  they  did  not,  by  any  means,  adopt  all  the  elements 

^  Excellence  thou  givest  me,  noble  mistress,  so  that  my  heart  ever 
bows  down  to  thee.  If  I  bow  down,  I  am  right  in  doing  it,  owing  to 
the  possession  so  rich  in  love  for  which  I  hope  and  go  on  hoping ;  for 
I  still  think  to  have  my  heart  joyful,  and  all  my  hope,  that  I,  loving, 
have  set  on  thee  and  on  thy  charms  ;  and  I  behold  thy  features, 
shining  sun,  and  expect  my  fill  of  joy,  and  I  have  confidence  that  my 
service  may  be  pleasing  to  thee,  that  art  the  flower  of  all  other  women, 
and  more  excellent  than  they. 


62      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

of  the  vast  repertory.     Thus  their  monotony  is  more  pro- 
nounced than  that  of  the  troubadours. 

And  just  as  there  was  a  common  supply  of  ideas,  so,  too, 
they  had  the  same  stock  of  images  and  comparisons,  which 
can  no  longer  serve  their  real  purpose  of  making  the  things 
represented  more  vivid,  but  have  become  mere  external 
ornaments,  convenient  instruments  for  filling  up  the  stanzas 
that  were  so  lacking  in  feeling.  Love  is,  of  course,  compared 
a  hundred  times  with  fire,  and  the  lover  is  purified  in  love 
like  gold  in  the  furnace.  The  ship  on  the  stormy  sea,  or 
the  restlessness  of  the  waves  themselves,  are  employed  as 
images  to  express  the  excitement  of  passion.  Serving  and 
obeying,  the  poet  will  be  as  faithful  as  the  assassin  who  goes 
blindly  to  his  death  at  the  command  of  the  Old  Man  of  the 
Mountain.  The  kiss  which  the  lover  has  received  from  his 
mistress  resembles  the  lance  of  Peleus,  the  wounds  caused  by 
which  did  not  heal  till  it  had  again  touched  the  injured 
part ;  Bernart  de  Ventadorn  had  said  this,  and  the  Italians 
repeated  it.  To  these  are  added  other  comparisons,  which 
are  derived  from  the  classical  tradition  of  the  Middle  Ages 
or  from  the  narratives  of  the  French  romances  of  chivalry, 
such  as  the  comparisons  with  Narcissus,  with  Paris  and 
Helen,  with  Pyramus  and  Thisbe,  and,  most  frequently, 
with  Tristan  and  Isolde.  But  the  most  popular  and  the 
most  characteristic  of  the  taste  of  age,  are  the  images  of 
animals  drawn  from  the  fabulous  histories  dealing  with  the 
habits  and  properties  of  animals  that  were  contained  in  the 
bestiaries,  so  widely  read  owing  to  the  miraculous  nature  of 
their  accounts.  These  childish  zoologies  of  the  Middle 
Ages  used  to  give  allegorical,  moral,  and  religious  interpreta- 
tions of  the  descriptions,  as  we  saw  in  the  case  of  S.  Damian, 
and  lyrical  poetry  transferred  these  to  the  domain  of  love. 
The  lover  lives  in  the  fire  without  being  burnt,  like  the 
salamander.  The  lady  slays  the  lover  with  her  look,  like  the 
basilisk,  or,  even  as  the  basilisk  dies  on  beholding  itself  in  a 
mirror,  so,  too,  the  lover  at  the  sight  of  his  lady.  The 
poet,  brought  to  the  point  of  death  by  his  love  torments, 
sings  like  the  swan  before  expiring.  As  the  tigress,  who  has 
been  robbed  of  her  young,  forgets  her  grief  on  seeing  herself 
in  the  mirror  that  the  huntsman  has  placed  in  her  way,  so, 
too,  the  lover  in  the  presence  of  his  mistress.     As  the  sweet- 


THE  SICILIAN  SCHOOL  OF   POETRY 


63 


smelling  breath  of  the  panther  entices  the  other  animals,  in 
the  same  way  he  is  enticed  by  her  charm.  As  the  phoenix 
who  dies  in  the  flames  and  then  rises  up  again,  so  he,  too, 
would  wish  to  pass  away  and  then  to  reappear  in  a  fresh 
form,  as  he  might  then  perhaps  be  more  pleasing  to  his 
mistress. 

This  predilection  for  conventional  ornamentation  is  not 
found  to  the  same  degree  in  all  the  poems,  some  of  them 
being  altogether  free  from  it,  while  in  others,  again,  it  is 
very  marked.  Among  the  Provencal  troubadours,  Richart 
de  Barbezien  especially  delighted  in  employing  such  similes 
in  large  numbers,  and  as  he  was  well  known  in  Italy,  it  is 
possible  that  his  poems  caused  this  manner  to  be  generally 
adopted.  At  times,  it  is  true,  the  lyrical  poets  of  the 
Sicilian  school  show  the  desire  to  employ  fresh  and  newly 
invented  images,  a  striking  example  being  a  canzone  of  Guido 
delle  Colonne,  "  Ancor  che  I'aigua  per  lo  foco  lasse."  This 
attempt  was,  however,  a  complete  failure.  The  poet  aims 
at  artistic  effects  by  forcing  very  prosaic  and  far-fetched 
objects  into  his  comparison.  Just  as  water,  he  says,  is  only 
warmed  by  fire  without  being,  at  the  sarne  time,  consumed 
by  it,  because  the  sides  of  the  vessel  intervene,  in  the  same 
way  he  himself,  who  had  previously  resembled  cold  water 
and  iron,  was  warmed  by  Amore,  and  would  have  been 
consumed  but  for  the  intervention  of  Madonna — where,  after 
all,  the  pot  is  the  image  for  the  lady  celebrated.  In  another 
stanza  the  poet  says  that,  just  as  the  magnet  can  attract  iron 
only  by  dint  of  employing  air,  so,  too,  Amore  has  observed 
that  he  has  need  of  Madonna,  in  order  to  attract  the  lover 
to  himself.  ^ 

The  principal  metrical  form  of  the  earliest  Italian  lyrical 
poetry,  and  also  of  that  of  later  times  was  the  canzone,  that 
is  to  say,  a  poem  consisting  of  several  stanzas  constructed  in 
the  same  way,  and  frequently  of  a  shorter  final  stanza — the 
refrain  (called  comiato,  congedo,  licenza,  chiusa^  or  ritor?ieU6). 
The  canzone  was  the  form  of  lyrical  love  poetry  in  Provence 
and  in  Northern  France,  but  this  does  not  necessarily  imply 
that  the  Italians  adopted  it  from  those  parts,  since  this  form 
always  resulted  as  a  matter  of  course,  where  a  text  was  to  be 
sung  to  a  melody  that  had  to  be  repeated  several  times.  In 
points  of  detail  they  differ  in  various  ways  from  the  outset. 


ii     ,1 


64      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 


The  Italian  verse  was  always  the  same  as  it  is  now  :  it  was 
based  on  the  principle  of  the  numbering  of  the  syllables, 
like  all  Romance  verses,  and  differed  from  the  Provencal  and 
French  system  by  the  collision  of  the  vowels  in  hiatus,  by 
the  unimportance  of  the  caesura,  the  almost  unbroken  rule 
of  a  feminine  ending,  that  accorded  with  the  character  of 
the  language,  and  by  the  mingling  of  open  and  closed  vowels 
in  the  rhyme.     The  earliest  lyrical  poets  employed  a  large 
variety  of  verses.     From  lines  of  three  to  lines  of  eleven 
syllables  there  were  none  that  were  not  used  at  least  in  some 
isolated  cases;  but  even  at  that  time  the  verse  of  eleven 
syllables  {endecasillabo)  and  that  of  seven  syllables  (settenario) 
prevailed  over  the  rest,  after  which  the  one  of  five  syllables 
occurs  n.ost  frequently.     Later  on,  Petrarca  employed  only 
the  two  former,  and  his  example  was  followed  by  all  succeed- 
ing generations  of  poets.     The  stanza  of  the  Italian  canzone 
is  generally  very  much  more  extensive  and  complicated  than 
was  the  case  in  Provence,  and  on  that  account  it  was  nearly 
always  divided  up  into  partitions.     The  most  popular  was 
the  division  into  three;   namely,  into  two  equal  portions, 
which  Dante  called  pedes,  and  one  that  differed  from  them, 
to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  syrma.     The  division  into 
four  parts,  with  pedes  and  versus,  is  also  very  frequent.    With 
the  troubadours  the  rule  that  was  by  far  the  most  generally 
followed  was  the  one  according  to  which  the  same  rhymes 
were   carried   through   all   the  stanzas  (coblas   unissonans). 
Italian  is  not  so  rich  in  words  with  a  similar  ending  as 
Provengal,  and  therefore  generally  adopts  the  method  of 
introducing  fresh  rhymes  into  each  stanza  {coblas  singulars), 
although  there  is  also  a  fair  number  of  examples  in  which 
the  rhymes  are  carried  through  the  entire  poem. 

The  sonnet  goes  back  to  the  three-part  stanza  of  the 
canzone,  and  was,  indeed,  originally,  nothing  but  a  single 
stanza  of  this  kind,  of  the  class  which  the  Provengals  em- 
ployed, under  the  name  of  coblas  esparsas,  chiefly  for  the 
purpose  of  expressing  moral  lessons  ;  only  in  Italy  the  type 
of  the  canzone  died  out,  and  thus  the  separate  stanzas  came 
to  form  an  independent  metrical  class.  The  Tuscans  were 
the  first  to  give  the  sonnet  its  great  importance.  Among 
the  Sicilians  it  was  rare.  Pier  della  Vigna,  King  Enzo  and 
Mazzeo  Ricco,  have  been  credited  with  one  sonnet  each,  and 


,^€1 


THE  SICILIAN   SCHOOL  OF  POETRY 


^S 


Jacopo  da  Lentini  with  a  larger  number,  but  it  is  doubtful 
whether  these  pieces  have  all  been  correctly  assigned  to 
their  real  authors.  But  the  Sicilians  possessed  another  form 
of  lyrical  poetry  which  disappeared  later  on  from  Italian 
literature,  namely  the  discordo,  that  corresponded  to  the 
Provencal  descort,  or,  perhaps  rather  to  the  class  called 
lais :  for  the  Italian  poems  of  this  kind,  in  common  with 
the  lais,  not  alone  consisted  of  unequal  stanzas,  but  were 
really  not  portioned  out  according  to  any  system  at  all,  it 
being  possible  to  distinguish  only  very  long  and  irregular 
divisions.  The  verses,  often  very  short  and  ending  in  several 
consecutive  rhymes,  are  arranged  in  an  arbitrary  fashion. 
It  is  possible  that,  in  these  poems,  as  in  the  Breton  lais,  the 
music  was  the  principal  feature,  the  words  playing  an  entirely 
subsidiary  part ;  this  would  also  account  for  the  obscurity  of, 
or  entire  absence  of  meaning  in  many  passages,  such  as  the 
following  in  a  discordo  of  Jacopo  da  Lentini : 

SI  mi  sdura 

Scura 

Figura 

Di  quant  'eo  ne  veio 

Gli  occhi  avere 

E  vedere 

E  volere 

E  loro  non  disio. 

As  the  poetry  began  in  Sicily,  it  might  have  been  expected 
that  the  earliest  attempts  were  made  in  the  Sicilian  or,  at 
any  rate,  in  a  South  Italian  dialect.  But  these  poems,  in 
the  shape  in  which  they  have  come  down  to  us,  are  written 
in  the  same  idiom  as  the  oldest  Tuscan  poems,  that  is  to 
say,  in  an  idiom  which,  although  it  contains  unmistakable 
elements  of  Southern  dialects,  cannot,  in  the  main,  be  dis- 
tinguished from  that  which  later  became  the  general  language 
of  Italy.  As  the  latter  was  based  on  the  Tuscan,  or,  to  be 
more  exact,  on  the  Florentine  dialect,  it  is  curious  to  find  it 
employed  at  a  time  when  Central  Italy  had  not  produced 
any  poetry  in  the  vulgar  tongue.  Consequently  Italian 
scholars  of  eminence  have  lately  set  up  the  theory,  that  the 
poems  of  the  Sicilians  have  not  been  handed  down  in  their 
original  form,  that  the  poets  composed  them  in  their  own 
dialect,  and  that  their  present  form  is  due  to  Tuscan  copyists. 

I.  F 


66      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

But  there  are  several  objections  to  this  assumption.  To 
begin  with,  non-Sicihan  forms  are  found  in  these  poems  not 
only  in  the  body  of  the  verse,  but  also  in  the  rhyme,  so  that 
it  is  impossible  to  attempt  to  translate  them  back  into  the 
original  dialect.  Further,  Dante  in  his  book  ''  De  Vulgari 
Eloquentia, "  praised  a  certain  Guido  delle  Colonne  and  others, 
for  having  departed  from  the  language  of  the  people,  and 
attained  a  purer  and  loftier  diction.  It  is  true,  it  has  been 
said  that  Dante,  too,  may  have  been  deceived,  and  that  he 
did  not  know  the  poems  either,  save  in  their  transcribed 
form.  But  it  should  be  remembered  that,  when  Dante  wrote, 
the  Sicilian  poetry  had  not  been  extinct  for  more  than  forty 
years,  that  he  must  have  known  natives  of  the  Southern 
provinces  and  been  able  to  learn  from  them  the  true  state  of 

the  case. 

It  appears,  then,  that  at  the  court  of  the  Emperor  I'recl- 
erick,  there  existed,  distinct  from  the  popular  idiom,  a  literary 
language  which  was  perhaps  not  so  very  different  from  that 
in  use  at  the  present  day.  It  is  certainly  difficult  to  say  how 
this  tongue  was  formed.  But  the  origins  of  literary  languages, 
in  general,  have  not  yet  been  fully  explained,  and  it  is  too 
early  in  the  day  to  maintain  that  they  were,  at  the  beginning, 
always  identical  with  a  popular  dialect,  seeing  that  special, 
additional  influences  have  always  to  be  reckoned  with.  As 
soon  as  a  dialect  is  employed  for  Uterary  purposes  it  assumes 
a  different  character,  and  aims  at  an  ideal  of  regularity  that 
was  foreign  to  the  carelessly  spoken  dialect.  This  can  be 
plainly  observed  in  the  case  of  the  dialect  writers  of  the 
present  day,  who  always,  though  they  may  not  know  it,  in- 
troduce elements  of  the  general  language  into  the  idiom 
written  by  them.  The  earliest  poets  had  no  such  general 
language  to  work  with,  it  is  true  ;  but,  instead  of  this,  the 
ideal  they  strove  to  attain  was  supplied  by  Latin  and  by  the 
idiom  of  their  models— Provencal,  whose  influence  was  so 
strong  that  not  unfrequently  entire  words  were  taken  over. 
And  finally,  the  poets  at  Frederick's  court  were  not  Sicilians 
only,  but  came  from  other  parts  as  well,  especially  from 
Apulia,  among  the  latter  being  Pier  della  Vigna  of  Capua, 
Rinaldo  d' Aquino,  and  Giacomo  Pugliese ;  nor  did  the 
Emperor  reside  exclusively  in  Palermo,  but  also  in  Naples 
and  elsewhere  in  the  peninsula.     The  necessary  result  of 


THE  SICILIAN   SCHOOL  OF   POETRY 


67 


;tK5^ 


this  triple  influence  of  Latin,  of  Provencal,  and  of  the  Apu- 
lian  dialect  was,  that  the  literary  language  departed  from 
the  phonetic  conditions  of  Sicilian  and  approached  more 
closely  those  prevailing  in  Tuscany.  It  is  impossible  at 
the  present  day  to  define  more  exactly  the  composition  of 
the  language  of  the  court  poets ;  for  something,  we  do  not 
know  how  much,  of  the  form  of  the  poems  as  it  has  come 
down  to  us,  must  certainly  be  put  down  to  the  Tuscan 
scribes. 

The  real  importance  of  the  Sicilian  court  poets,  whose 
productions  have  so  little  intrinsic  value,  lies  in  the  fact  that 
they  laid  the  foundations  of  metrical  form  for  lyrical  poetry, 
and  that  they  were  the  first  to  employ  the  vulgar  tongue. 
These  achievements,  which   were  acknowledged  even   by 
Dante,  proud  as  he  was  of  the  higher  standard  of  perfection 
to  which  he  himself  and  his  school  had  attained,  are  by  no 
means  insignificant.     They  represent,  at  all  events,  the  be- 
ginnings of  art  and  of  a  literary  tradition.     From  this  time, 
Italian  began  to  be  the  recognised  organ  of  the  art  poetry ; 
the  form  was  already  national,  and  nothing  remained  but 
that  the  themes  clothed  by  it  should  be  national  too.     It 
is  true,  that  the  Provencal  style  of  poetry  could  only  be  a 
passing  fashion,  and  that  the  further  development  of  the 
literature  required  a  fresh  spirit,  so  that  those  forms  might 
be  infused  with  new  life  and  vigour.     The  elements  of  an 
inspiration  of  this  kind,  that  was  independent  and  not  of 
foreign  origin,  had  obviously  always  existed,  having  perhaps 
previously  found  expression  in  popular  songs.     But  in  view 
of  the  wide-spread  reputation  of  the  conventional  court  poetry, 
a  new  spirit  such  as  this  could  only  make  itself  felt  gradually, 
and  required  a  longer  period  in  which  to  develop  freely. 
But  some  traces  of  it  can  be  remarked  even  in  the  poems  of 
the  Sicilians.     This  introduction  of  a  healthier  and  more 
natural  style  of  poetry  into  the  traditional  manner,  these  first 
notes  of  true  poetry  are  undoubtedly  worthy  of  our  special 
attention,  although  we  must  beware  of  over-estimating  their 
importance,  as  has  been  done  of  late. 

Almost  all  the  poems  which,  in  the  great  Vatican  collec- 
tion of  the  early  lyric  poets,  bear  the  name  of  Giacomo 
Pugliese,  are  distinguished  by  a  certain  popular  tone  and  by 
a  more  realistic  colouring.    In  the  midst  of  a  love  complaint, 


I 


6S      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

he  turns  suddenly  to  his  mistress,  with  a  bold  expression  of 
impatience,  and  asks  her  to  give  him  back  his  heart : 

Donna,  se  me  non  vuoi  intendere, 

Ver  me  non  far  s\  gran  faglia, 

Lo  mio  cor  mi  degie  rendere.  .  .  .  ^ 

Elsewhere  we  have  a  dialogue,  a  tenzone  or  contrasto,  as  it 
was  called  by  the  Provencal  and  Italians  respectively,  in 
which  the  lady  complains  of  her  bad  husband,  who  holds 
her  captive  and  disturbs  her  happy  love : 

Meo  Sir,  a  forza  m'  avviene 

Ch'  io  m'  appiatti  od  asconda  ; 

C^  si  distretto  mi  tiene 

Quelli  cui  Cristo  confonda  ; 

Non  m'  auso  fare  alia  porta.  .  .  .  ^ 

Here  we  find  ourselves  removed  from  the  empty  abstrac- 
tion of  the  love  intrigue,  as  usually  treated,  into  a  sphere  of 
reality,  whereby  the  action  gains  in  life  and  colour.    The  same 
remark  applies  to  two  poems  by  Giacomino,  which  belong  to 
a  class  of  pieces  that  were  very  popular  among  the  Italians, 
namely,  those  in  which  the  absence  or  parting  from  the  loved 
one  is  sung,  and  which  may  thus  be  shortly  termed  songs  of 
longing  or  farewell.     Among  the  Provencals,  already,  these 
poems  often  show  special  warmth  and  tenderness  of  feeUng  ; 
the  expression  of  longing  in  them  generally  leads  to  recollec- 
tions of  the  last  great  joy  that  preceded  the  parting,  of  the 
last  meeting  with  the  lady,  her  emotion,  and  the  words  she 
spoke  on  that  occasion,  which  never  cease  to  echo  in  the 
poet's  memory.     The  Italians  delight  in  working  out  this 
final  scene  minutely,  in  the  same  way  that  one  takes  pleasure 
in  recalling  a  joy  that  is  past,  in  all  its  details,  and  in  this 
process  numerous  realistic  traits  appear,  which  are  otherwise 
absent  from  this  poetry.     There  is  mention  of  kisses  and 
embraces,  and  Giacomino  Pugliese  tells  how  his  mistress 
descended  into  his  arms  from  the  window  of  her  palace.    In 
a  song  of  longing  by  Jacopo  of  Lentini  ("  S'io  doglio  non  e 

^  Lady,  if  thou  dost  not  wish  to  hear  me,  thou  must  not  do  me  so 
great  a  wrong,  but  must  give  me  back  my  heart.  ... 

*  My  beloved,  I  am  forced  to  hide  and  to  conceal  myself;  for  so 
closely  he  holds  me,  whom  may  Christ  confound  ;  I  do  not  venture  to 
go  to  the  door.  .  .  . 


THE  SICILIAN  SCHOOL  OF  POETRY 


69 


5 


S 


meraviglia "),  an  oft  repeated  thought  is  expressed  in  a 
simple  and  heartfelt  manner :  the  poet  complains  that,  on 
his  departure,  his  heart  remained  with  "  Madonna,"  and  he 
envies  it  the  place  it  has  chosen,  while  he  himself  mourns 
far  away.  And  what  sincerity  of  feeling  is  shown  in  the  ex- 
clamation at  the  end :  "  Occhi  ahi  vaghi  e  bionde  trezze," 
which  completes  the  picture  of  his  beloved  one's  charms. 
In  another  poem  beginning :  *'  Dolze  meo  drudo,  e  vattene," 
which  is  attributed  to  the  Emperor  Frederick,  the  parting 
scene  is  presented  in  the  animated  form  of  the  dialogue. 
In  all  these  descriptions,  in  the  words  which  are  placed  in 
the  mouth  of  the  loved  one,  in  the  account  of  her  tenderness 
and  of  her  lament,  the  change  that  has  taken  place  from  the 
ordinary  situation  of  the  lyrical  poetry  of  chivalry  is  worthy 
of  remark.  The  poet  no  longer  bends,  in  unceasing  and 
languishing  worship,  before  an  eternally  cold  and  cruel 
mistress;  "Madonna"  now  descends  from  her  position  of 
lofty  abstraction  and  herself  gives  signs  of  life  and  move- 
ment, speaking,  lamenting,  entreating,  and  affording  us  a 
glimpse  into  her  inner  soul.  It  is  just  this  living  expression 
of  the  workings  of  a  woman's  soul  that  gives  to  two  other 
poems  their  special  character,  and  these  possess  a  higher 
poetical  value  than  the  ones  that  have  already  been  discussed. 
These  are  the  lament  of  a  girl  who  thinks  she  has  been 
betrayed  by  her  lover,  "Oi  lassa  innamorata"  by  Odo  delle 
Colonne,  and  the  lament  of  another  girl  for  the  departing 
crusader,  "  Giamai  non  mi  conforto,"  by  Rinaldo  d' Aquino. 
Although  the  phraseology  of  these  poems  is  still  conventional, 
they  express,  in  warm  and  natural  bursts  of  passion,  feelings 
simple  and  without  artifice,  the  grief  of  the  deserted  girl,  the 
painful  recollection  of  her  former  bliss,  her  glowing  hatred 
of  the  rival  in  whose  arms  she  believes  her  faithless  lover 
to  be  lying : 

Lassa  !  che  mi  dicia, 
Quando  m'  avea  in  celato  : 
Di  te,  oi  vita  mia, 
Mi  tegno  piti  pagato, 
Ca  s'  io  avesse  in  ballia 
Lo  mondo  a  segnorato. 
Ed  or  m'a  a  disdegnanza 
E  fammi  scanoscenza  ; 
Par  ch'  aggia  d'  altr'  amanza. 


\ 


70      HISTORY   OF    EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

O  Dio,  chi  lo  m'intenza, 
Mora  di  mala  lanza, 
E  senza  penitenza  !  ^ 

and  then  in  the  other  poem  we  see  the  grief  of  the  girl  who 
is  left  behind,  when  she  prays  God  for  the  protection  of  her 
lover,  and  suddenly,  in  heartfelt  and  touching  words,  accuses 
the  cross,  which  saves  the  human  race,  but  to  her  brmgs  rum 
by  depriving  her  of  her  loved  one : 

La  croce  salva  la  gente 

E  me  fa  disviare  ; 

La  croce  mi  fa  dolente, 

Non  mi  val  Dio  prepare. 

Dime,  croce  pellegrina, 

Perche  m'  hai  si  distrutta  ? 

Oime,  lassa  tapina  ! 

Ch'  i'  ardo  e'  ncendo  tutta.^ 

In  both  the  poems,  as  also  in  those  of  Jacopo  da  Lentini 
and  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  which  have  been  quoted,  the 
very  form— the  short  and  rapid  verse,  the  extremely  simple 
construction  of  the  stanza— in  itself  suggests  a  kinship  with 
popular  poetry.  A  third  song  of  a  girl,  attributed  to  the 
same  Rinaldo  d' Aquino  ("Oramai  quando  flore"),  is  related 
to  these  two,  though  it  does  not  reach  the  same  high 
standard,  containing  more  conventional  elements.  The  fair 
season  fills  the  girl's  heart  with  love,  and  she  will  no  longer 
let  her  worshipper  languish  in  vain : 

Vedendo  quell'  ombria  del  fresco  bosco 
Bene  conosco— che  accertatamente 
Sara  gaudente— 1'  amor  che  m'  inchina. 

Long  has  he  suffered  in  vain ;  but  now  he  can  hope  that 
his  prayer  will  be  heard  : 

'  Alas  '  what  did  he  say  to  me,  when  he  was  with  me  in  secret : 
"In  thee,  oh  my  life,  I  possess  greater  fortune,  than  if  I  were  ruler 
over  the  whole  world."  And  now  he  disdains  me  and  shows  himself 
ungrateful ;  it  appears  that  he  loves  another.  O  God,  may  she  who 
has  turned  him  from  me,  die,  wounded  by  an  evil  lance,  and  without 

repentance.  .    ,     ,       .  ^u 

^  The  cross  saves  the  human  race,  but  me  it  leads  astray ;  the  cross 
fills  me  with  grief,  it  avails  me  nought  to  pray  to  God.  Alas  !  cross  of 
the  pilgrims,  why  hast  thou  brought  me  such  ruin  ?  Alas  !  unhappy 
wretch  that  I  am  !    I  am  all  aglow  and  on  fire  ! 

^  Seeing  that  shadow  of  the  fresh  wood,  I  well  perceive  that  he  will 
certainly  have  joy,  who  lovingly  bends  before  me. 


THE   SICILIAN   SCHOOL   OF   POETRY  7 1 

Ma'  1  tempo  m'  innamora 

E  fammi  star  pensata 

D'  aver  merce  ormai 

D'  un  fante,  che  m'  adora. 

E  saccio,  che  costui  per  me  sostene 

Di  grandi  pene, — 1'  un  core  mi  dice, 

Che  si  disdice, — e  1'  altro  me  n'  incora.^ 

All  these  poems,  while  imitating  the  school,  show  us  the 
beginnings  of  an  original  art.  Another  more  extended 
poem,  however,  breaks  altogether  with  the  school  of  court 
poetry,  and  takes  up  the  opposite  position.  This  is  a 
Contrasto^  beginning  with  the  verse,  "  Rosa  fresca  aulent- 
issima  c'apari'  nver  la  state,"  a  conversation  between  a  man 
and  a  girl,  arranged  in  such  a  manner  that  the  stanzas  are 
assigned  alternately  to  the  one  and  to  the  other.  He  en- 
treats her  to  give  a  hearing  to  his  wishes  ;  she  refuses.  He 
becomes  more  and  more  pressing;  she  defends  herself  as 
best  she  can,  but  as  if  she  were,  in  reality,  disposed  to  yield 
eventually.  The  lover  knows  full  well  with  whom  he  has 
to  deal,  and  does  not  allow  himself  to  be  deterred  by  her 
words ;  he  finally  attains  his  object,  and  the  dialogue  closes 
with  a  very  open  assent  on  the  part  of  the  girl.  Here  ev  -ry- 
thing  is  unpolished  and  plebeian,  but,  at  the  same  time,  un- 
deniably fresh  and  natural.  There  is  no  sign  of  affectation  ; 
the  dialogue  is  rapid,  energetic  and  expressive,  and,  after 
the  products  of  the  conventional  manner,  this  rough  origin- 
ality comes  quite  as  a  relief,  and  strongly  recalls  the  popular 
poetry.  The  construction  of  the  stanzas  also  is  such  as 
occurs  again  in  somewhat  later  popular  monuments  of 
Southern  Italy ;  they  consist  of  five  verses,  three  long  lines 
of  fourteen  syllables  with  a  strong  caesura  in  the  middle, 
rhyming  with  one  another,  and  two  endecasillabi  at  the  end, 
which  again  rhyme  with  each  other,  thus : 

Poi  tanto  trabagliastiti,  faccioti  meo  pregheri, 

Che  tu  vadi,  adomannimi  a  mia  mare  e  a  mon  peri ; 

Se  dare  mi  ti  degnano,  menami  alo  mosteri, 

^  But  the  season  fills  me  with  love,  and  inspires  me  with  the  thought 
to  take  pity  on  the  youth,  who  worships  me.  And  I  know  that  he 
endures  for  me  great  sufferings ;  one  heart  within  me  says  it  is  not 
right,  and  the  other  bids  me  do  it. 


I 


72      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

E  sposami  davanti  dala  jente, 
E  poi  farb  le  tvio  comannamente.  * 

Finally,  this  poem  occupies  a  special  position  on  account  of 
its  language,  which  is  more  strongly  dialectical  in  character. 
Dante,  in  his  book  "  De  Eloquentia  Vulgari,"  quoted  a  verse 
of  the  "  Rosa  fresca,"  as  an  example  of  the  popular  speech 
of  Sicily. 

Neither  the  great  Vatican  collection,  which  alone  con- 
tains the  piece,  standing  among  the  products  of  the  court 
poetry,  nor  Dante  gives  the  name  of  the  author.  But  a 
scholar  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Angelo  Colocci,  who  pos- 
sessed the  manuscript  at  the  time,  called  the  poet  Cielo  in 
an  index  to  this  volume,  and  elsewhere  in  his  papers  Cielo 
dal  Camo.  It  is  impossible  to  accept  this  name,  which  he 
himself  wished  to  twist  into  the  form  Celio,  without  further 
ado,  as  we  do  not  know  from  what  source  he  derived  it. 
To  make  matters  worse,  Federigo  Ubaldini,  who  was  the 
first  to  mention  the  poem  in  print  (1640),  took  Cielo  in 
Colocci's  bad  handwriting  to  be  Ciulo.  AUacci  called  him 
Cielo,  Ciulo,  and  also  Ciullo  dal  Camo.  At  the  beginning 
of  last  century  this  was  turned  into  Ciullo  (i.e.,  Vincenzo) 
d'Alcamo,  and  this  was  the  name  given  to  the  poet  of  the 
**  Rosa  fresca  "  till  quite  recently.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
town  of  Alcamo  were  proud  of  this  poet  of  theirs  ;  a  square 
was  named  after  him,  a  monument  erected  in  his  honour, 
and  a  literary  myth  came  to  be  attached  to  this  invented 
personality.  Sicilian  scholars  assumed  a  very  early  date  for 
the  dialogue,  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  during  the 
period  of  the  Norman  rule,  merely  because  the  girl,  when 
protesting  that  all  the  treasure  in  the  world  would  not 
induce  her  to  yield,  mentions  the  wealth  possessed  by 
Saladin,  and  from  some  other  passages  they  concluded  that 
the  writer  must  have  been  a  great  feudal  lord,  a  possessor 
of  towns  and  castles,  forgetting  how  unsuited  the  subject- 
matter  and  general  character  of  the  poem  would  be  to  such 
an  author.     These  views  were  very  properly  opposed  by 

^  As  you  have  distressed  yourself  so  much,  I  beg  of  you  that  you  go 
and  ask  my  mother  and  father  that  they  should  give  me  to  you  ;  if  they 
are  willing  to  do  so,  take  me  to  church  and  marry  me  before  the  people 
there,  and  then  I  shall  obey  your  command. 


THE  SICILIAN   SCHOOL  OF  POETRY 


73 


t 


other  scholars,  and  a  long  and  lasting  dispute  began,  which 
appeared  at  length  to  have  been  settled  by  the  thorough 
study  of  Alessandro  d'Ancona  (1875).  He  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  "Rosa  fresca"  could  not  have  been 
composed  before  the  year  1231  ;  for  the  defensa,  with 
which  the  lover,  as  he  says  (in  stanza  v.),  means  to  protect 
himself  against  the  threats  of  the  girl's  relatives,  was  a  legal 
decree  of  the  constitutions  of  Melfi,  which  were  not  pro- 
mulgated till  the  above-mentioned  year,  and  the  money  in 
which  he  calculates  the  penalty  of  the  defensa — the  agostari 
— was  not  coined  prior  to  this  date.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Saladin,  to  whose  treasure  the  girl  refers,  was  not  neces- 
sarily the  famous  prince  of  this  name  who  died  in  1193, 
seeing  that  the  title  Saladin  was  adopted  by  the  entire 
dynasty,  and  probably  became  the  general  designation  of  a 
Mussulman  ruler.  Further,  the  fact  that  large  sums  of  money 
are  mentioned  twice,  and  the  allusion,  in  another  passage,  to 
long  journeys  which  the  lover  maintains  he  has  made,  do  not 
in  any  way  prove  the  power  and  wealth  of  the  poet,  who 
need  not  have  been  identical  with  the  person  who  is  intro- 
duced as  speaker.  These  are  nothing  but  fictions  boastful 
in  character,  of  the  kind  that  may  still  be  heard  from  the 
lips  of  the  people  or  found  in  popular  songs.  And  it  was 
as  a  popular  song  that  D'Ancona  regarded  this  poem — the 
sole  remnant  of  an  old  popular  literature  that  had  flourished 
in  Sicily. 

This  theory  of  D'Ancona  as  to  the  character  of  the  poem 
was  disputed  later  on.  Napoleone  Caix  thought  it  was  not 
really  a  popular  effusion,  but  a  product  of  the  school  of 
court  poetry,  and  that  the  piece  was  merely  an  imitation  of 
the  French  pastourelles,  in  which  the  cultured  poet  adopts 
the  popular  tone  with  artistic  intentions.  Caix  did  not, 
however,  succeed  in  proving  the  identity  of  the  situation 
with  that  of  the  supposed  models.  In  the  pastourelle  the 
knight  meets  a  country  girl  with  her  herd,  enters  into  con- 
versation with  her  and  endeavours  to  make  her  do  his  will. 
In  the  Italian  confrasto,  we  have  nothing  of  the  usual 
machinery,  both  the  characters  are  of  the  same  station,  and 
belong  to  the  lower  classes.  The  individual  similarities  that 
have  been  noticed  are  too  superficial  and  insignificant  to 
prove  a  connection   with  the  French.     There  was  more 


74      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

foundation  in  Caix'  observation  -f-f ^f/^J^^Jedwufex' 
fi,^  "TJoQP.  fresca"  to  the  effect  that  it  is  stuaaea  wiui  ca 
nressions  of  the '  chWalrous   love  poetry,  which,   however, 

H^  X  S^tatX^rn-i::  ^l^^ 

Ci:X  but,  on  the  contrary,  -'h-f  ^^^^-J^iH^g^T £: 
poet,  a  roving  minstrel,  who  was  to  a  certain  degree,  m 
flnenced  bv  the  artificial  poetry,  as  happened  at  all  times.  We 
must  then  regard  the  coriM  not  as  a  genuine  popular 
poem,  but"'asf  product  of  the  popular  ^-f^lsy,  to  which 
^las^belong  so  many  other  old  monuments  of  Northern 
Italy,  written  in  dialect,  with  which  we  shall  have  to  aeai 
later  on. 


'v 


I 


III 


LYRICAL    POETRY    CONTINUED   IN    CENTRAL    ITALY 

IN  Italy  chivalrous  love  poetry  probably  did  not  long 
survive  the  close  of  the  rule  of  the  Hohenstaufen.  But 
the  cultivation  of  lyrical  poetry  in  the  vulgar  tongue  had 
already  been  begun  in  other  places,  and  Tuscany  was  the 
principal  new  centre  in  which  it  now  continued  to  flourish. 
Here  it  was  that  Guittone  of  Arezzo,  as  early  as  the  year 
1260,  composed  his  song  on  the  battle  of  Monteaperti,  and 
his  love  poetry  is  doubtless  still  older.  But  here,  too,  there 
is  a  lack  of  reliable  data.  Most  of  the  Tuscan  poets  that 
wrote  in  the  same  manner  appear  to  be  more  recent  than 
Guittone  ;  he  is  considered  the  head  of  a  school,  and  looked 
up  to  as  a  master.  All  the  important  Tuscan  communes  take 
part  in  the  literary  activity.  In  Arezzo,  besides  Guittone, 
Master  Bandino  and  Giovanni  dell'  Orto  compose  in  the  Pro- 
vencal court  manner.  To  Siena  belong  Messer  Folcacchiero 
and  men  like  Meo  or  Mino  Macconi,  while  Florence  is 
represented  by  Dante  da  Majano,  so  called  after  his  native 
place,  a  little  town  near  the  hill  of  Fiesole.  Specially  numerous 
is  the  band  of  Pisan  poets  :  Jacopo  Mostacci,  Gallo  Pisano, 
Pucciandone  Martelli,  Betto  Mettefuoco,  Pannuccio  dal 
Bagno,  Bacciarone  di  Messer  Baccone,  Lotto  di  Ser  Dato. 

It  was  probably  only  from  Tuscany  that  the  poetical 
tradition  reached  the  neighbouring  city  of  Bologna,  where 
especially  Paolo  da  Castello,  or,  as  he  is  also  called,  Paolo 
Zoppo,  belongs  to  the  old  conventional  school,  and,  at  the 
beginning  of  his  career,  also  the  same  Guido  Guinicelli,  from 
whom  the  first  important  reform  of  this  poetry  was  to  take 
Its  start.  Finally,  we  find  among  the  old  lyrical  poets  two 
others  from  Romagna,  according  to  Dante  the  only  ones  in 
this  part  of  Italy  that  devoted  themselves  to  artificial  poetry, 
and  in  fact  the  only  ones  whose  names  we  meet  with  in  the 


^6     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

collections  of  lyrics.  They  are  Tommaso  of  Faenza  and 
Ugolino  Buzzuola,  likewise  of  Faenza.  The  latter,  as  we 
learn  from  the  chronicler  Salimbene,  belonged  to  the  Guelph 
family  of  the  Alberghetti  that  ruled  in  Faenza,  who  also 
called  themselves  Manfredi,  and  was  the  father  of  that  ill- 
famed  Frate  Alberigo,  who  treacherously  murdered  his  rela- 
tions, and  whose  shameful  memory  was  perpetuated  by  Dante 
in  the  "  Commedia  "  ('*  Inf."  xxxiii.  1 18). 

Among  the  poets  just  named  we  have  a  direct  continuation 
of  the  poetic  manner  begun  in  the  South  of  Italy.  The 
connection  is  unbroken  and  we  are  surely  justified  in  assum- 
ing that  some  of  the  oldest  Tuscans  wrote  poetry  at  the  very 
court  of  Frederick  II.,  where  the  most  distinguished  men 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  came  together,  and  that  it  was 
probably  just  from  there  that  they  brought  back  the  poetic 
manner  to  their  home.  Perhaps  it  was  thus  with  Jacopo 
Mostacci  of  Pisa  and  Paganino  of  Sarzana,  whose  songs  are 
contained  in  the  Vatican  collection  quite  near  the  beginning 
among  those  by  Southern  poets.  The  predominant  and  dis- 
tinguishing characteristic  of  the  school,  the  servile  imitation 
of  Provencal  models,  continues  among  the  lyrical  poets  of 
Central  Italy  that  have  been  mentioned,  and  consequently 
also  the  same  ideas  and  modes  of  expression,  the  same  con- 
ventional images  repeat  themselves.  The  language,  too, 
though  it  is  influenced  by  local  peculiarities,  shows  in  many 
forms  the  tradition  that  came  from  the  South.  Where  the 
manuscripts,  as  is  often  the  case,  fluctuate  in  assigning  the 
authorship  of  one  and  the  same  poem  between  a  Southern 
and  a  Tuscan  or  Bolognese  poet,  we  are  not  able  to  distin- 
guish to  which  of  them  it  belongs,  so  similar  was  their 
poetical  manner.  That  people  were  conscious  of  this  close 
connection  with  the  Southern  school  was  clear  from  the  fact 
that,  as  Dante  tells  us,  the  whole  of  the  oldest  Italian  poetry, 
that  is  to  say,  all  belonging  to  the  whole  period  that  pre- 
ceded his  own  times,  was  called  Sicilian,  and  Dante  himself 
believed  that  this  name  would  have  to  be  adhered  to  in  the 
future.  In  point  of  fact,  this  name  is  thoroughly  appropriate, 
and  the  designation  of  Sicilian  school  is  used  again  at  the 
present  day,  not  only  for  the  poets  of  the  court  of  Frederick  II., 
but  for  the  whole  movement  in  the  Italian  lyrical  poetry  of 
the  thirteenth  century  which  underwent  Proven9al  influence. 


i 
I 


LYRICAL  POETRY  IN  CENTRAL  ITALY  J-J 


^ 


This  Provengal  influence  was  even  renewed  and  strength- 
ened in  Tuscany.  The  style  and  language  of  Guittone  of 
Arezzo  show  more  clearly  than  in  the  case  of  any  other  poet 
the  traces  of  a  diligent  study  of  the  troubadours ;  he  fre- 
quently quotes  them  in  his  letters,  and  once  translates  a 
passage  of  Peire  Vidal  very  correctly.  Of  Messer  Migliore 
degli  Abati  the  "  Cento  Novelle  "  relate  that  he  spoke  Pro- 
vencal excellently.  Guittone,  bewailing  the  death  of  the 
poet  Giacomo  da  Leona,  sings  of  him  that  he  had  spoken 
and  written  poetry  in  French  and  Provencal  better  than  in 
Aretine.  We  have  a  sonnet  in  the  Provencal  tongue  by 
Paolo  Lanfranchi  of  Pistoja,  and  two  such  by  Dante  da 
Majano.  More  important  still  is  the  fact  that  one  of  the 
two  old  Provencal  grammars,  the  "  Donatz  Provensals,"  was 
composed  about  this  time  in  Italy  and  for  the  special  use  of 
the  Italians.  Moreover,  the  other  old  Provengal  grammar, 
the  "  Razos  del  Trobar  "  of  Raimon  Vidal,  did  not  remain 
unknown ;  the  poet  Girolamo  Terramagnino  of  Pisa  turned 
the  prose  into  bad  Provencal  verse. 

Among  the  Tuscan  poets  of  this  school  instances  of  direct  ^ 
borrowing  from  the  troubadours  are  more  frequent.     Thus 

Jacopo  Mostacci,  imitating  a  poem  of  Jordan  de  I'lsla 

"  Longa  sazon  ai  estat  vas  amor,"  in  the  canzone  "  Umile 
core  e  fino  e  amoroso,"  followed  his  original  more  closely 
than  had  probably  ever  been  done  in  the  South.  Further- 
more, one  of  the  Provencal  classes  of  poems,  one  that  is 
specially  characteristic,  was  not  cultivated  in  Italy  till  this 
time.  It  is  true  that  the  Sicilians  knew  the  Contrasti, 
the  dialogues  between  Madonna  and  the  lover,  but  not  yet 
that  other  kind  of  tenzone  which  reproduces  conversations 
and  discussions  of  different  poets  among  themselves.  In 
Provence  the  tenzone  was  likewise  bound  together  in  the 
form  of  a  canzone ;  but  later  it  was  also  customary  for  the 
one  poet  to  send  a  single  stanza,  to  which  the  other  then 
replied  with  the  same  rhymes.  But  the  sonnet  was  originally 
nothing  but  a  single  stanza,  and  so  it  is  natural  that  those 
corresponding  tenzone  stanzas  were  in  Italy  reproduced  in 
the  shape  of  the  sonnets  with  reply,  which  are  in  the  Vatican 
collection  actually  called  tenzonL  Frequently  question  and 
answer  came  and  went  several  times  in  succession,  so  that  a 
regular  series  arose,  which  again  in  its  turn  corresponded  to 


78      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

the  ordinary  extended  Provencal  tenzone;  and,  just  as  in  the 
Provencal  tenzone,  more  than  two  poets  took  part  in  the 
conversation,  the  first  questioner  sending  his  sonnet  simul- 
taneously to  several  people.  Sometimes  personal  insults, 
but  more  frequently  general  questions  of  various  kinds, 
formed  the  subject  of  these  discussions.  Often,  as  in  most 
of  the  similar  poems  of  the  troubadours,  it  is  a  question  of 
certain  subtle  distinctions  in  the  matter  of  love  affairs. 
Thus  a  certain  Bartolommeo  Notajo  asks  one  Bonodico  of 
Lucca,  which  of  two  knights  a  lady  should  prefer— the  one 
who  boldly  declares  his  passion,  or  the  one  who  is  afraid  and 
silent.  Buonagiunta  Urbiciani  asks  an  unknown  poet  which 
is  the  first  grief  caused  by  love,  and  Dante  da  Majano 
desires  to  learn  from  from  Tommaso  of  Faenza  what  he  con- 
siders to  be  love's  greatest  sorrow.  But  other,  and  still  less 
poetical  problems,  also  appear  in  these  dialogues.  One  asks 
another  to  resolve  his  doubts  in  scientific  questions,  and  the 
Florentines,  as  we  shall  see,  make  tefizofii  on  political  sub- 
jects, too.  Dino  Compagni,  in  a  sonnet,  lays  before  the 
lawyer,  Lapo  Saltarelli,  a  complicated  legal  case,  and  Guit- 
tone  and  his  imitators  occupy  themselves  with  abstruse 
moral  and  theological  themes.  That  variety  of  the  tenzone, 
also,  which  was  called  joe  parti t,  ox  par  time  n,  and  in  which 
each  of  the  two  poets  defended  one  of  two  possible  replies, 
was  imitated  by  the  Tuscans,  though  more  rarely.  Federigo 
dell'  Ambra  had  such  a  dispute  in  nine  sonnets  with  the 
notary,  Ser  Pace,  on  the  subject,  whether  it  be  more  advis- 
able to  take  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  love  as  they  come,  or  to 
abstain  from  them  altogether ;  and  a  thoroughly  Provencal 
partimen  question  is  the  one  Ricco  put  to  Ser  Pace,  as  to 
whether  it  be  better  to  love  a  young  girl  or  a  married  woman. 
The  transplanting  of  this  class  of  poetry  to  Italy  was  by  no 
means  unimportant:  the  correspondences  in  series  of  sonnets 
which  resulted  from  it  remained  a  favourite  form  of  com- 
position among  succeeding  generations  and  in  later  ages. 
Inasmuch  as  they  adopted  fresh  themes  for  treatment,  they 
often  served  to  express  in  a  graphic  manner  the  intellectual 
movement  of  the  times. 

The  affected  and  artificial  forms,  too,  were  adopted  m 
Tuscany  from  the  Provencal  poetry  much  more  readily  than 
had  been  the  case  in  Sicily.     Very  popular  was  the  juggling 


LYRICAL   POETRY   IN    CENTRAL   ITALY 


79 


i\ 


with  words  having  a  similar  sound,  the  so-called  bisticci,  as 
with  amore  and  amaro,  or  the  like;  also  the  continual  repeti- 
tion throughout  a  whole  stanza  or  a  whole  poem,  of  the  same 
word,  or  of  the  same  stem,  which  was  called  "replication" 
by  the  Provencals.  Thus,  for  example,  Guittone  wrote  in 
his  fifty-fourth  sonnet : 

Tuttor  ch'  io  dirb  gioi,  gioiva  cosa, 

Intenderete  che  di  voi  favello, 

Che  gioia  sete  di  belta  gioiosa 

E  gioia  di  piacer  gioivo  e  bello.  .  .  .  ^ 

And  the  Italians  added  another  kind  of  trick,  namely, 
an  accumulation  of  intermediate  rhymes,  which  were  not 
used  so  extensively  by  the  Provencals  themselves.  They 
were  not  satisfied  with  reproducing  the  sound  of  the  close  of 
each  verse  only  once  in  the  body  of  the  next  verse,  but  re- 
peated the  rhyme  several  times  in  the  course  of  the  verse,  as, 
for  example,  in  the  lines  of  the  Pisan  Pucciandone  Martelli : 

Similemente — gente — criatura, 
La  portatura — pura — ed  avvenente 
Faite  plagente — mente — per  natura, 
SI  che'n  altura — cura — vo'  la  gente. 

From  this  affectation  sprang  the  obscure  or  difficult  manner 
of  the  troubadours,  arising  out  of  the  straining  after  some- 
thing new  and  extraordinary,  something  of  weight,  which  was 
to  be  represented  outwardly  by  a  mode  of  expression  difficult 
to  understand,  but  which,  often  enough,  was  not  to  be  found 
in  the  subject-matter  itself.  A  refined  art  here,  as  has  often 
been  the  case,  mistook  the  pleasure  afforded  by  the  solution 
of  the  difficulties  for  the  delight  taken  in  the  depth  of  the 
thought  itself.  Arnaut  Daniel,  the  chief  representative  of 
this  tendency,  the  one  who  exaggerated  it  most,  was  held  in 
high  repute  in  Italy,  as  is  proved  by  Dante's  praise  of  him  in 
the  "  Purgatorio"  and  in  the  book,  "  De  Eloq.  Vulg."  Hence 
even  the  "obscure"  poetry  found  imitators.  But,  again, 
only  one  such  poem  ("Del  meo  voler  dir  I'ombra") 
is  attributed  to  a  Southern  .poet,  the  Sicilian  Inghilfredi. 

'  As  often  as  I  say  "joy,"  joyous  Being,  thou  wilt  understand  that  I 
speak  of  thee,  who  art  a  joy  of  joyous  beauty,  and  a  joy  of  joyous  and 
beauteous  delight. 


f 


8o      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

The  Others  are  by  Tuscans.  This  obscurity  of  diction  went 
hand  in  hand  with  all  kinds  of  artificialities  of  form,  allitera- 
tion, repetition,  and  intermediate  rhymes,  but,  especially,  un- 
natural and  difficult  rhymes,  rims  cars,  as  the  Proven9als 
called  them.  The  Italian  poems  of  the  obscure  manner  are 
neady  all  characterised  by  the  rhymes  of  homonyms,  in  Pro- 
vencal, rims  equivocs,  or,  still  more  frequently,  by  the  repetition 
in  their  stead  of  the  same  word  in  the  rhyme;  this  was 
merely  an  attempt  to  imitate  the  rims  cars  of  the  troubadours. 
For  this  reason  such  poems  were  called  canzoni  equivoche. 
To  this  class  belong,  among  others,  two  poems  of  Pannuccio 
dal  Bagno,  "  Poiche  mia  voglia  varca  "  and  "  Di  dir  gik  piu 
non  celo,"  an  anonymous  piece,  "Amor  tegnomi  matto," 
which  has  been  wrongly  attributed  to  Meo  Abbracciavacca, 
and  Guittone's  thirty-sixth  canzone.  He  and  his  school 
were  especially  noted  for  their  obscurity,  and,  when  this  was 
intentional  on  the  part  of  the  poet,  it  is  often  quite  impossible 
for  us  to  penetrate  into  the  hidden  meaning ;  it  is  true  that 
when,  now  and  again,  it  is  really  revealed  to  us,  it  is  so  m- 
significant  that  we  can  scarcely  regret  very  much  the  fact 
that  our  efforts  have  mostly  been  futile. 

In  these  vain  and  insipid  triflings,  in  the  exaggerations  of 
the  manner,  we  may  note  the  ever  increasing  decline  of  the 
Provencal  style  of  poetry  in  Tuscany.  At  the  same  time 
this  assumes  a  certain  commonplace  aspect,  that  stands  in 
contrast  to  the  spirit  originally  contained  in  it.  For  this 
love-poetry  is  nothing  but  a  superficial,  rhetorical  exercise, 
composed  in  the  traditional  manner.  This  accounts  for  the  \ 
increase  in  artificiality,  since  emptiness  of  subject-matter  | 
causes  all  the  attention  to  be  devoted  to  the  form.  Men 
wrote  poetry  without  feeUng  what  they  wrote;  how  were 
they  to  be  made  to  feel  a  chivalrous  love,  which,  in  truth, 
they  no  longer  knew  ?  This  kind  of  poetry,  moreover,  had 
its  foundation  no  longer  in  the  existing  state  of  society. 
For  at  the  court  of  Frederick  there  had  been  more  of  the 
feudal  spirit  of  chivalry  than  elsewhere  ;  besides  judges  and 
doctors,  courtiers  and  princes,  too,  wrote  poetry  there.  In 
Tuscany,  on  the  other  hand,  this  style  of  poetry  coincides 
with  the  life  of  the  communes,  the  exact  opposite  of  the 
chivalry  by  which  it  had  originally  been  created.  Hence  it 
was  necessary  for  the  poetry  to  adapt  itself  to  these  new 


LYRICAL  POETRY   IN   CENTRAL   ITALY 


8l 


customs  and  to  this  new  spirit,  before  a  development  could 
take  place  that  possessed  the  elements  of  vitality. 

In  Northern  Italy  the  free  constitution  of  the  cities  was 
not  of  long  duration.  As  early  as  the  thirteenth  century, 
dynasties  had  become  possessed  of  sovereignty.  Tuscany, 
however,  the  development  of  whose  independence  had  been 
slower,  retained  its  free  communes,  with  their  stormy  political 
life.  The  cities  oppose  such  remnants  of  the  feudal  system 
as  were  still  existing,  they  destroy  the  castles  of  the  nobles 
living  in  the  country,  force  many  of  the  great  families  to 
submit  to  them  and  to  reside  within  the  city  walls.  The 
communes  make  war  upon  each  other,  endeavour  to  sup- 
press one  another,  and  to  add  each  to  its  own  power. 
Florence,  which  at  the  beginning  is  not  so  important  as  the 
other  great  municipalities,  rises  rapidly  till  it  supersedes 
them  all  and  becomes  the  centre  of  Tuscany.  The  govern- 
ment comes  more  and  more  into  the  hands  of  the  citizens, 
the  families  of  the  nobles  rend  the  cities  with  their  factions, 
and  wear  out  each  other's  strength.  The  names  of  the 
Guelphs  and  Ghibellines,  first  used  in  Florence  (though  it  is 
not  known  exactly  how  this  came  about),  from  which  city 
they  spread  through  the  whole  of  Italy,  only  serve  as  a  kind 
of  signboard  and  means  of  union.  Behind  the  partisanship 
for  Pope  and  Emperor  are  hidden,  as  the  true  igniting  sparks, 
personal  interests,  jealousy  for  the  possession  of  public 
power,  and  private  family  feuds.  The  same  animosity  and 
heartless  cruelty  that  mark  the  struggles  of  the  cities  against 
each  other,  mark  also  those  of  the  factions  within  them. 
Neither  peace  nor  a  lasting  condition  of  affairs  exists ;  victory 
is  now  on  one  side,  now  on  the  other,  and  is  followed  by  fire 
and  pillage,  by  the  exile  of  the  enemy  and  the  ruin  of 
families.  It  was  a  wild,  anarchical  state  of  things  ;  but  at  the 
same  time  there  was  not  wanting  a  strong,  though  limited, 
patriotism,  a  warm  love  for  the  commune.  Thus  the  cities, 
in  spite  of  the  thousand  evils  and  dangers  that  threatened 
them,  flourished  and  grew  in  population  and  wealth.  And 
it  was  this  very  ferment  of  passion,  with  which  public  life  was 
filled,  that  became  a  fertile  soil  for  future  poetry. 

The  troubadours,  who  took  an  active  part  in  the  affairs  of 
the  world,  possessed,  besides  their  love  poetry,  the  serventesi, 
that  is,  political  and  satirical  songs,  and  these  formed,  at  any 

I.  G 


82      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 


LYRICAL  POETRY  IN   CENTRAL  ITALY 


83 


rate  in  the  period  of  decline,  the  most  interesting  portion  of 
their  literature.  The  Italian  poets  of  the  North,  who  wrote 
in  Provencal,  cultivated  this  class  successfully  ;  the  Sicilians, 
however,  held  aloof  from  it,  and,  as  far  as  can  be  judged 
from  the  poems  that  have  been  preserved,  only  sang  of  love, 
much  to  the  detriment  of  their  art.  The  only  exceptions 
are  two  dry  moralisations  that  have  come  down  under 
the  name  of  Inghilfredi  Siciliano,  and  the  two  moralising 
sonnets  of  King  Enzo  and  Mazzeo  Ricco.  This  point  marks 
an  important  difference  between  the  Tuscan  poets  and  those 
of  the  South.  The  former,  from  the  outset,  did  not  limit 
their  poetical  subject-matter  to  such  an  extent,  and  they 
possess  far  more  poetry  of  the  kind  corresponding  to  the 
Provencal  serventes.  Guittone's  best  poem  is  a  genuine 
political  song  of  reproach,  written  in  the  year  1260,  when  the 
Florentines  were  utterly  routed  by  the  Sienese  and  King 
Manfred's  cavalry  in  the  bloody  battle  of  Monteaperti.  In 
consequence  of  this  battle  the  Ghibellines,  who  had  been 
driven  out  two  years  previously,  returned  to  Florence,  while 
the  Guelphs  were  forced  to  retreat.  The  poet  is  on  the  side 
of  the  conquered  :  he  bewails  the  city  which  had  been  thrust 
from  the  height  of  her  power  through  the  shameful  action  of 
her  own  sons,  the  Ghibellines,  at  whom  he  scoffs,  because 
in  order  to  gain  the  mastery,  they  had  subjected  themselves 
to  the  swords  of  the  Germans  and  to  the  enemies  of  their 
commune.  Though  the  form  is  heavy  and  prosaic,  yet  it 
expresses  a  sincere  and  energetic  feeling,  especially  in  the 
case  of  its  bitter  irony  at  the  close  : 

Baron  Lombardi  e  Romani  e  Pugliesi 

E  Toschi  e  Romagnuoli  e  Marchigiani, 

Fiorenza,  fior  che  senipre  rinovella, 

A  sua  corte  v'appella  ; 

Che  fare  viiol  di  se  Re  dei  Toscani, 

Da  poi  che  li  Alamani 

Have  conquisi  per  forza  e  i  Senesi.  ^ 

The  victory  of  Charles  of  Anjou  in  the  year  1266  decided 
in  the  whole  of  Italy  the  supremacy  of  the  Papal  party ;  the 

^  Lombard,  Roman,  Apulian  and  Tuscan,  barons,  and  ye  of 
Romagna  and  the  Mark,  Florence,  the  flower  that  ever  blossoms 
afresh,  calls  ye  to  its  court ;  for  it  wishes  to  make  itself  King  of  the 
Tuscans,  since  it  has  conquered  by  force  the  Germans  and  people  of 
Siena. 


Ghibellines  were  again  expelled  from  Florence,  this  time  for 
ever,  and  the  city  remained  the  most  intensely  Guelph  com- 
mune in  Tuscany.  Therefore  the  attempt  of  the  youthful 
Conradin  to  reconquer  his  heritage,  and  the  events  of  the 
year  1268  connected  with  it,  naturally  produced  a  great  sen- 
sation. These  form  the  subject  of  a  series  of  sonnets  in  the 
manner  of  ienzoni  by  Florentine  poets,  who,  according  to  the 
party  to  which  they  belonged,  cast  for  the  combatants  a 
different  horoscope  as  to  the  issue.  Monte  Andrea  scoffs  at 
the  vain  hopes  of  the  Ghibellines,  and  trusts  in  Charles's 
strength,  as  he  is  protector  of  the  right,  and  Pope  and 
Church  are  on  his  side ;  he  recalls  the  saying  of  Clement 
IV.  concerning  Conradin,  that  he  would  be  led  by  the  bad 
counsellors,  like  a  lamb  to  the  slaughtering-bench.  Schiatta 
di  Messer  Albizzo  Pallavillani  defends  the  cause  of  the 
Ghibellines;  he  prophesies  that  fortune  would  turn,  and 
people  would  see  how  the  lamb  could  bite.  Orlanduccio 
Orafo  expects  that  there  would  be  a  hot  contest  with  doubtful 
issue,  seeing  that  both  parties  were  very  strong.  Palamidesse 
Belindore  is  of  opinion  that  the  young  Conradin  should  rather 
read  his  Psalter ;  if  he  were  sensible,  he  would  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  champions  of  St.  Peter.  Beroardo  Notajo 
doubts  Charles's  courage  and  ability,  and  Ser  Clone  Notajo 
even  thinks  he  would  take  to  flight  before  the  arrival  of 
the  Germans.  In  another  place  there  is  a  dispute  concern- 
ing the  prospects  of  the  pretenders  to  the  German  imperial 
crown.  King  Alfonso  of  Castile  and  Richard  of  Cornwall, 
and  concerning  the  chances  of  Frederick  of  Misnia  ("  Fede- 
rigo  di  Stuffo  ")  to  the  throne  of  Sicily.  Thus  we  learn  the 
different  views  of  the  Florentine  citizens,  notaries  and  artisans 
on  the  affairs  of  the  great  world  without,  followed  by  them 
with  keen  interest.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  this  political 
colloquy  has  not  yet  been  published  completely  and  in  its 
proper  sequence. 

To  the  expedition  of  Conradin  refers  also  a  canzone,  attri- 
buted in  the  Vatican  collection  to  Don  Arrigo,  that  is  to  say 
to  the  Infante  Don  Enrique,  brother  of  Alfonso  the  Wise  of 
Castile,  and  cousin  of  Charles  of  Anjou.  This  prince  came  to 
Italy  in  1 266,and  being  closelyallied  to  Charles,  was  appointed 
at  first  a  senator  of  Rome  through  his  aid,  but  afterwards, 
on  quarrelling  with  him,  became  one  of  the  chief  followers 


84      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

of  Conradin.  The  poem  does  indeed  contain  allusions  to 
the  private  concerns  of  the  prince,  so  that  it  cannot  even  be 
understood  by  one  unacquainted  with  them.  At  the  same 
time  it  would  appear  strange  that  a  Spaniard,  who  had  only 
been  in  Italy  for  so  short  a  time,  should  have  composed  a 
poem  in  the  language  of  the  country.  It  is  more  likely  that 
some  other  person  wrote  the  piece  in  his  name.  It  was  evi- 
dently composed  shortly  after  the  battle  of  Ponte  a  Valle 
(June  25,  1268),  which  greatly  roused  the  courage  of  the 
Ghibellines ;  and  so  it  is  filled  with  triumphant  joy,  incites 
Conradin  to  advance  rapidly  along  the  opened  path  of 
victory,  and  sings  the  good  fortune  of  the  garden  of  Sicily, 
seeing  that  such  a  gardener  approaches,  who  will  bring  back 
its  happiness  and  prosperity  after  times  of  darkness. 

Of  slight  poetical  value,  but  still  interesting  on  account  of 
their  subject-matter,  are  three  pohtical  poems  by  Pisans,  the 
canzone  of  Pannuccio  dal  Bagno,  "  La  dolorosa  noja,"  that 
of  Lotto  di  Ser  Dato,  "  Delia  fera  inferta  e  angosciosa,"  and 
finally  that  of  Bacciarone,  "  Se  doloroso  a  voler  movo  dire." 
They  kre  laments  on  the  affliction  and  misery  existing  under 
the  bad  rulers  that  have  made  themselves  masters  of  the  city 
of  Pisa.  All  the  three  of  them  allude  without  doubt  to  the 
same  event,  namely,  the  suppression  of  the  Ghibelline  party 
by  Count  Ugolino  (1285).  In  Pannuccio's  poem  there  is 
also  mention  of  the  loss  of  the  castles  with  which  the  count 
was  reproached  on  all  sides,  and  of  which  his  enemies  after- 
wards made  use  in  order  to  bring  about,  under  an  accusation 
of  treachery,  his  well-known  and  terrible  death,  described  by 
Dante.  From  the  canzone  of  Lotto  it  is  evident  that  the 
poet  himself  was  in  prison,  and  the  same  thing  had  happened 
to  Pannuccio,  who  in  another  lament  turns  to  his  cousin  for 
help.  These  citizens  of  the  Tuscan  Communes  were  them- 
selves entangled  so  deeply  in  the  political  events,  that  these 
were  bound  to  be  re-echoed  in  their  verses.  A  certain  Fredi 
of  Lucca  bewails  his  own  fall  from  a  position  of  power  on  the 
occasion  of  a  revolution  in  the  commune  (*'  Dogliosamente 
e  con  gran  malananza  "),  applying  to  his  political  misfortune, 
in  a  curious  manner,  the  similes  of  animals  that  were  usual  in 
the  love-poetry,  to  his  political  enemies.  An  opponent  of  his, 
Arrigo  Baldonasco,  replied  with  great  bitterness  in  the  same 
rhymes,  representing  his  misfortune  as  the  just  punishment 


LYRICAL   POETRY   IN   CENTRAL  ITALY 


85 


for  the  acts  of  violence  of  which  he  had  been  guilty,  and 
scoffingly  repeating  some  of  his  similes  of  animals. 

But  this  kind  of  poetry,  occupying  itself  with  real  events, 
with  political  affairs  instead  of  with  the  pains  of  an  imaginary 
love,  passes  beyond  the  narrow  limits  of  the  oldest  lyrics ; 
here  the  liberation  from  foreign  influence  begins,  and  we 
have  an  independent  subject-matter  for  poetry,  which,  it  is 
true,  is  still  expressed  in  an  awkward  and  prosaic  form. 
The  same  applies,  at  least  in  part,  to  the  moralising  poetry 
also ;  for  it  stands  in  relation  to  the  actual  interests  of  life, 
to  which  the  formulas  of  the  old  school  no  longer  applied, 
and  contains  within  itself  the  germ  of  a  fresh  development, 
however  small  the  absolute  value  these  productions  possess, 
and  however  dry  and  uninviting  these  dull  and  long-winded 
didactic  poems  may  appear  to  us  to-day.  MoraUsing  can- 
zones and  sonnets  were  composed  by  the  Tuscans  in  great 
numbers,  by  Buonagiunta,  Monte  Andrea  and  the  Pisans, 
but  especially  by  Guittone  of  Arezzo,  who,  here  as  always,  is 
the  most  characteristic  representative  of  the  oldest  kind  of 
Tuscan  poetry,  and  as  such  has  still  a  claim  to  our  special 
attention. 

Guittone's  literary  activity  is  divided  into  two  sharply 
distinguished  periods.  To  the  first  belonged  the  love-poetry. 
Without  love,  he  then  thought,  like  the  troubadours,  there  is 
no  excellence,  no  poetry ;  and  so  he  endeavours  to  fall  in 
love,  entreating  Amore  to  enter  his  breast,  and  begging  the 
poet  Bandino  to  teach  him  what  he  must  do  in  order  to  fall 
in  love  (Sonnet  52).  But  then  came  a  turning-point  in  his 
life,  "  in  the  middle  of  the  way,"  as  with  Dante : 

From  my  beginning  until  middle  age, 

I  was  in  a  place  shameful,  foul,  and  hideous, 

To  which  I  turned  me  quite  .  .  . 

he  says,  in  the  poem  on  his  conversion  to  the  Virgin  Mary 
(Canzone  III.).  He  was,  therefore,  probably  thirty-five  years 
old  at  the  time  when  he  entered  the  order  of  the  Cavalieri 
di  Sta,  Maria  which  had  been  in  existence  since  1261,  and 
which  was  called  the  order  of  the /rati  gaudenti,  as  its  mem- 
bers often  did  not  trouble  themselves  much  about  the  fulfil- 
ment of  their  vows.  Guittone,  however,  was  prompted  to 
take  this  step  by  an  earnest  religious  desire ;  he  abandoned 


86      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

the  comfortable  life  he  had  been  leading,  and  left  wife  and 
children,  although  the  rules  of  the  order  did  not  absolutely 
insist  on  this.  His  standpoint  was  now  totally  changed  ;  the 
love  he  had  formerly  extolled  he  now  reviled  in  the  most 
abusive  manner,  extolling  the  true  love  of  God  only  in  its 
place.  He  now  denies  that  worldly  love  is  the  source  of 
excellence,  nor  does  he  hold  it  true  that  a  man  must  be  in 
love  in  order  to  be  able  to  make  poetry;  on  the  contrary, 
love  is,  according  to  him,  illness  and  folly.  Just  and  ex- 
cellent things  are  done  only  by  the  wise  man,  and  not  by 
the  fool.  He  condemns  his  own  former  life,  and  his  own 
poetry,  warning  people  against  reading  his  love-songs.  To 
the  same  Master  Bandino,  whom  he  had  first  begged  for 
instruction  in  the  art  of  love,  he  now  directs  a  sonnet  in 
quite  a  different  tone  (No.  164),  in  which  he  says  that  it 
would  be  a  wise  thing  on  his  part  if  he  were  to  leave  earthly 
love  as  he  himself  has  done,  and  in  a  canzone  (No.  xxiv.) 
he  shows  by  what  means  one  may  be  cured  of  this  malady, 
namely,  by  thoughts  of  God,  by  fasting,  castigation,  and 
scourging  of  the  stubborn  flesh. 

Such  cases  of  penitence  and  conversion  were  in  the  Middle 
Ages  of  very  usual  occurrence ;  the  knight  who  had  passed 
his  life  amidst  the  crash  of  arms,  the  troubadour  who  had 
sung  the  praises  of  the  ladies,  entered  the  cloister  in  later 
life,  and  prayed  God  to  forgive  him  for  his  sins.  Among 
the  Provencals  the  poems  of  penitence  are  numerous,  and 
there  are  also  several  by  Italians  of  that  age.  But  in  this 
case  Guittone  had  only  returned  to  his  own  self.  It  had 
been  a  matter  of  difficulty  for  him  to  follow  the  manner  of 
the  love-poetry ;  now  he  gives  himself  up  entirely  to  his 
fancy  for  dry  argumentation,  and  no  longer  writes  poems, 
but  treatises  and  sermons  in  verse.  Thus,  for  example,  the 
seventh  canzone,  on  the  existence  of  God  and  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  is  a  collection  of  syllogisms  in  the  language  of 
the  schools,  with  quotations  from  Tully,  Aristotle,  Boethius, 
and  Seneca.  He  possesses  neither  the  warmth  of  feeling  nor 
the  simplicity  that  makes  popular  religious  poetry  attractive 
to  us.  His  is  a  cold  and  subtle  intellect ;  we  respect  the 
character  of  the  man,  but  miss  the  poet.  He  expresses  his 
thoughts  just  as  chance  laid  them  on  his  lips.  His  aim  was 
to  instruct  and  to  preach,  not  to  make  poetry,  and  in  his 


LYRICAL   POETRY   IN   CENTRAL  ITALY 


87 


letters  he  often  quoted  his  verses  as  didactic  maxims.  Now 
and  again  he  hits  on  a  vigorous  expression,  an  effective 
image,  such  as  will  occur  to  a  man  who  is  filled  with  a  sin- 
cere and  strong  conviction ;  but  these  happy  touches  are 
rare,  and  as  a  general  rule  a  prosaic  aridity  predominates  in 
these  moralisations,  while  insipid  passages  are  by  no  means 

absent.  .  ,•■,      .     -v 

At  the  same  time,  Guittone,  even  m  these  pieces,  did  not  r 
abandon  the  poetical  expedients  that  were  borrowed  from 
the  Provencals ;  he  adopts  the  old  artificial  forms,  overloads 
a  religious  sonnet  (No.  i)  with  intermediate  rhymes,  employs 
the  repetition  of  the  same  word  in  an  admonition  addressed 
apparently  to  some  one  about  to  enter  the  cloister  (No.  20). 
But  the  altered  subject-matter  at  times  gives  the  form  quite 
a  different  character;  as  in  the  single  instance  where  he 
imitates  the  Provencal  class  of  poem  called  plazer  (canzone 
X.).     This  was  with  the  troubadours  a  piece  in  which  the 
author  enumerated  the  things  that  gave  him  pleasure,  and 
thus  expressed  the  tendencies  that  were  to  him  a  source  of 
joy  :  Bertran  de  Born  the  wild  delight  he  took  in  battle,  the 
Monk  of  Montaudon  the  pleasure  afforded  him  by  flowers 
and  springs,  by  the  song  of  birds  and  beautiful  girls.     Quite 
different  is  the  Hne  of  thought  of  the  frate  gaudente  of 
Arezzo;  the  things  that  please  him  are  a  faithful,  loving 
spouse,  one  who  makes  youth  and  beauty  subordinate  to 
chastity,  a  widow  who  takes  good  care  of  her  family,  a  prelate 
who  fulfils  his  sacred  duties,  a  monk  who,  after  having  aban- 
doned the  world,  no  longer  goes  about  and  has  dealings  with 
the  world,  the  latter  a  course  that  was  followed  with  special 
partiality  by  the  Monk  of  Montaudon.    And  so  in  the  hands 
of  Guittone  this  class  of  poetry,  full  of  vivacity  and  gay 
humour,  became  an  earnest  didactic  poem. 

At  the  side  of  Provencal  influence,  we  note  in  Guittone, 
and  especially  during  the  period  of  the  moral  poetry,  another 
influence,  that  of  Latin.  Guittone  was  acquainted  with  the 
authors  of  antiquity  that  were  at  that  time  generally  read, 
and  also  quoted  them ;  it  was  natural  that  this  study  also 
should  gradually  leave  traces  on  the  productions  of  the 
Italians  in  the  vulgar  tongue.  But  here  classicism  really 
asserts  itself  only  in  the  mode  of  expression,  and,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  much  to  its  detriment.    Guittone  employs  numerous 


Si#W*l?S**:?*EF?l 


88      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Latinisms ;  he  also  imitates  the  Latin  order  of  words,  and 
from  this,  twisted  and  confused  constructions  result,  often 
the  very  cause  of  the  obscurity  of  his  verses. 

The  side  of  Guittone's  poetical  activity  which  displays  his 
individuality  to  the  best  advantage  has  already  been  touched 
on.  It  is  represented  by  some  of  his  political  poems.  The 
song  of  reproach  addressed  to  the  Florentines  after  the 
Battle  of  Monteaperti  is  probably  the  best  thing  he  wrote, 
as  well  as  a  historical  monument  of  importance.  Almost  as 
good  is  the  invective  and  admonition  composed  for  his 
fellow-citizens,  the  Aretines  (canzone  ix.) ;  they  are  earnest 
words,  full  of  vigour,  the  expression  of  a  manly  character. 
In  them  we  already  notice  something  of  the  spirit  of  Dante's 
powerful  invectives,  if  it  were  not  that  their  abstract  prolixity 
detracts  from  their  effect. 

Several  of  Guittone's  pieces   are   epistles   addressed   to 
individuals ;  but  in  addition  to  them  we  have  a  number  of 
letters  in  prose,  admonitions,  sermons  to  brothers  of  the 
order,  to  friends  or  political  personages,  filled  with  a  strong 
zeal  for  what  is  right  and  good,  like  the  moral  poems,  and 
like  these,  too,  long-winded  and  often  lacking  in  taste.    The 
most  interesting  of  these  is  the  fourteenth  letter,  addressed 
to  the  Florentines,  and  corresponding  very  closely,  in  part 
word  for  word,  with  the  canzone  referring  to  the  Battle  of 
Monteaperti.     It  was,  therefore,  probably  composed  about 
the  same  time.     If  this  is  so,  the  author  acquires  a  special 
importance  as  one  of  the  oldest  writers  of  prose ;  for,  as  we 
shall  see,  only  very  few  specimens  of  Italian  prose  are  in  ex- 
istence that  go  back  farther  than  1260,  and  even  these  are 
not  of  a  literary  character.     It  is  true,  however,  that  there  is 
only  a  slight  difference  between  Guittone's  poetry  and  his 
prose.     His  language  and  his  style  remain  the  same  as  in 
the  rhymed  letters ;  we  find  the  same  obscurity,  heaviness, 
and  affectation,  the  same  weary  contortions  of  the  phrases 
forming  the  period,  the  same  love  of  repetition,  the  same 
remmiscences   of  Latin  and  Provencal.      Count  Galvani, 
therefore,   thought   that   this   mode  of  expression  was  no 
real  prose  at  all,  and  in  his  '*  Lezioni  accademiche  "  he  tried 
to  show,  that  even  the  non-rhymed  letters  were  composed 
in  verses  of  varying  length,  or,  to  put  it  differently,  in  a 
kmd  of  rhythmical  prose,  with  verses  intermingling.      Be 


LYRICAL   POETRY  IN   CENTRAL   ITALY  89 

this  as  it  may,  it  is  natural  that  the  first  attempt  in  prose 
should  bear  a  close  resemblance  to  the  use  of  poetry 
Literary  prose,  as  opposed  to  that  of  popular  documents 
IS  derived  from  the  language  of  poetry,  as  Dante  re- 
marks in  his  book,  "De  Eloquentia  Vulgari"  (ii  i)  with 
a  discernment  we  often  meet  with  in  him-a  discernment 
which  characterises  the  essence  of  things  so  sharply  and  so 

Guittone  of  Arezzo  died  in  1294,  after  having  given,  a 
year  previously,  a  portion  of  his  fortune  for  the  foundation 
of  the  monastery  degli  Angeli  in  Florence.     He  exercised  a 
considerable  influence  on  the  literature  of  his  time      The 
numerous  sonnets  addressed  to  him  show  the  esteem  in 
which   he   was   held.     He  was   considered   for  a  time  in 
1  uscany  to  be  the  master  of  the  art,  and  the  imitation  of 
his    manner  is   unmistakable   in   several    poems    of   Meo 
Abbracciavacca,  Dotto  Reali,  Monte  Andrea   and  others. 
Ihe  three  Pisans,  Pannuccio,  Bacciarone  and  Lotto,  appear 
also  to  be  closely  related  to  his  school.    Common  character- 
istics of  these  three  are  a  mode  of  expression  so  twisted  a 
way  of  transposing  words  so  unnatural  and  so  opposed  'to 
the  genius  of  the  language,  that  they  are  very  difficult  to 
understand,  even  when  they  do  not  purposely  employ  the 
dark  manner.     In  these  cases  also  we  have  nothing  but  the 
desire  to  imitate  the  style  of  the  Latin  poets,  such  as  we 
already  saw  m  Guittone,  except  that  the  Pisans  exaggerated 
still  more  this  mistaken  classicism  in  outward  form 

Among  the  poets  of  the  South  we  have  already  noted 
traces  of  popular  sentiment  in  the  manner  of  the  school 
and  seen  some  blossoms  of  real  poetry  springing  from  it.' 
In  Tuscany,  with  its  fresh  and  vigorous  popular  life,  this 
phenomenon  was  bound  to  repeat  itself  to  an  even  wider 
extent.     This   popular  influence   shows   itself  in  different 
poets  in  a  varying  degree.     Some,  such  as  Monte  Andrea 
and  Guido  Orlandi,  appear  at  one  time  as  servile  imitators 
of  the  Sicilians  and  ProvenQals,  and  then  again  they  strike  a 
Oitterent  and  a  freer  note,  returning  to  themselves  and  to 
he  real  sphere  that  surrounds  them.     Here  we  remark  a 
^ct  that  repeats  itself  in  the  cases  of  Guido  Guinicelli  and 
Unesto  of  Bologna,  that  such  a  renovation  of  the  poetical 
subject-matter  occurs  more  frequently  in  the  sonnet  and 


90      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

ballad  than  in  the  canzone.  The  canzone  was  the  exalted, 
solemn  form  of  lyrical  poetry,  which  accordingly  always  ad- 
hered longest  to  the  traditional  style,  while  the  sonnet  and 
ballad,  which  were  regarded  as  inferior  forms,  have  often 
a  wider  scope,  and  assume  a  more  modern  character. 

The  sonnet,  which  was  but  rarely  to  be  met  with  in  the 
south,  was  very  popular  in  Tuscany,  and  was  remodelled  in 
various  ways.  Verses  of  seven  syllables  were  inserted  between 
the  fourteen  verses  of  eleven  syllables,  and  this  gave  the  so- 
called  sonetto  doppio  and  the  sonetto  rinterzato^  forms  which 
Guittone  was  also  fond  of  using.  The  fourteen  lines  were 
even  made  up  of  verses  of  eleven  and  seven  syllables,  or  the 
whole  sonnet  was  formed  of  lines  of  seven  syllables.  More- 
over, Guittone  at  times  replaced  the  two  quatrains  by  ten 
verses,  and  this  same  form  was  employed  by  Monte  Andrea, 
who  also  wrote  real  double  sonnets  of  twenty-eight  verses 
(four  quatrains  and  four  triplets).  Far  more  usual  than  such 
an  addition  to  the  quatrains,  was  the  method  of  adding  to 
the  triplets,  at  the  end  of  the  poem,  the  so-called  coda,  con- 
sisting of  two  or  three  verses  of  eleven  syllables,  or  of  a  verse 
of  seven  syllables  rhyming  with  the  preceding  line,  and  two 
verses  of  eleven  syllables  rhyming  together.  All  this  testifies 
to  a  desire  to  infuse  a  greater  variety  into  the  forms,  which, 
however,  became  still  more  artificial  by  these  efforts,  and 
more  difficult  to  handle.  And  so  these  varieties  of  the  sonnet 
were,  none  of  them,  long-lived;  they  disappeared  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  with  the  exception  of  the  sonetto  colla 
coda,  which  became  and  remained  the  favourite  form  of 
facetious  poetry. 

A  truly  popular  form  of  metrical  composition  was  the 
ballad,  the  dance-poem  ;  in  Provence  and  in  France  it  was 
just  as  popular  in  character.  The  Sicilians  do  not  appear  to 
have  known  it,  though  it  is  true  that  a  poem  of  the  kind, 
which,  to  judge  from  its  dialect,  belongs  to  the  South,  is  con- 
tained in  the  Vatican  collection  of  songs — "  Et  donali  con- 
forto,  se  te  chiace."  At  any  rate  it  may  be  said  of  the 
ballad  also,  that  it  did  not  become  really  important  before 
its  cultivation  in  Central  Italy.  The  poem  is  constructed  in 
accordance  with  its  destination  to  be  sung  in  accompani- 
ment to  the  dance ;  it  begins  with  the  refrain,  the  ripresaX 
so  called  because  it  is  taken  up  afresh  by  the  chorus  after 


LYRICAL   POETRY  IN   CENTRAL  ITALY 


91 


each  stanza,  while  the  latter  is  itself  given  out  by  the  solo 
voice.  The  stanza  is  again  portioned  out  into  three  parts, 
consistmg  of  two  divisions  which  are  constructed  alike  and 
which  were  designated  by  the  old  prosodists  as  mutations  or 
feet  (J>edes\  and  a  third,  the  volta,  which  corresponds 
exactly  to  the  ripresa.  At  the  endof  the  whole  song  the  older 
poets  often  added  a  new  ripresa,  which  was  sung  in  this 
place  instead  of  the  old  refrain,  a  custom  we  find  also  among 
the  Provencals. 

A  fresher  and  more  natural  tone  in  the  poetry  is  especially 
noticeable  in  a  number  of  love-dialogues,  the  address  and 
reply  of  which  are  lively  in  movement,  while  showing  at  the 
same  time  a  scoffing  spirit.     Of  this  kind  is  a  chain  of  five 
sonnets  by  the  Florentine  Chiaro  Davanzati.     In  these  the 
lady  accompanies  her  lover's  dismissal  with  words  of  good 
counsel,  and  will  not  listen  to  his  protestations  of  honourable 
intentions ;  on  the  other  hand,  she  zealously  defends  pure 
morals  and  fidelity  to  the  husband,  who  had  hitherto  only 
appeared  in  this  class  of  poetry  as  the  jealous  brute  and  dis- 
turber of  the  lovers.     The  same  rebuke  is  administered  to 
the   lover    m   Guido  Orlandi's   tenzone  in   ballad    form- 
Pax  tire,  amor,  non  oso"— though  this  set  is  far  more  re- 
stricted in  manner  to  the  old  style.     A  dialogue  which  has 
come   down   under   the  name   of  a  certain   Ciacco    delP 
^nguillaia   of  Florence,   resembles   in   its   movement    the 
.    ixusa  fiesca  aulentissima  ;  "  the  subject,  however,  is  treated 
rnot  with  the  plebeian  coarseness  to  be  found  in  this  poem, 
but  with   delicacy  and  grace,  and  at   the  same  time  the 
courtly  phraseology  has  not  entirely  disappeared.   The  lover 
prays  for  compassion,  calls  his  girl  a  sweet  jewel,  a  gemma 
leztosa  exto  s  her  perfection  and  protests  that  he  is  her  slave 
i3ut  she  replies  with  a  malicious  refusal.    She  does  not  wish 
to  be  the  miracle-working  jewel,  from  which  he  had  hoped 
to  denve  aid  :  ^ 

Assai  son  gemme  in  terra 
Ed  in  fiume  ed  in  mare, 
C  hanno  virtude  in  guerra 
E  fanno  altru'  allegrare. 
Amico,  io  non  son  dessa 
Di  quelle  tre  nessuna  ; 
Al  trove  va  per  essa 
E  cerca  altra  persona. 


92      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 


And  he  again : 

Madonna,  troppo  ^  grave 
La  vostra  risponsione, 
Che  io  non  aggio  nave 
Ne  non  son  marangone, 
Ch'io  sappia  andar  cercando 
Cola  ove  mi  dite. 
Per  voi  perisco  amando, 
Se  non  mi  sovvenite. 

But  the  gemma  leziosa  consoles  him  in  a  mocking  tone,  pro- 
mising him  to  have  masses  said  for  him  if  he  should  die : 

Se  perir  tu  dovessi 
Per  questo  cercamento, 
Non  crederia  che  avessi 
In  te  innamoramento, 
Ma  s'  tu  credi  morire 
Innanzi  ch'  esca  1'  anno. 
Per  te  fo  messe  dire, 
Come  altre  donne  fanno.^ 

and  thus  the  sighs  and  railing  words  go  on,  till  she  finally 
yields  after  all. 

In  another  dialogue  in  sonnet  form  by  Chiaro  Davanzati, 
the  simile  of  the  bird  that  has  flown  away,  with  which  he 
compares  his  heart  that  has  flown  away  to  his  beloved,  is 
pleasing  in  its  simplicity  :  ^ 

Cosi  diviene  a  me  similmente 
Come  air  augel  che  va  e  non  riviene, 
Per  la  pastura,  che  trova  piacente, 
Dimora  in  loco  e  ad  esso  si  contiene. 
Cosi  il  mio  cuor  .  .  .  ^ 


1  (( 


Many  jewels  are  on  land  and  in  river  and  in  sea,  which  have 
power  in  war  and  make  people  rejoice.  Friend,  I  am  not  any  one  of 
those  three  ;  go  thou  elsewhere  for  them  and  seek  another  girl." — 
'  *  Madonna,  too  severe  is  thy  reply  ;  for  I  have  no  ship  and  am  no 
diver,  so  as  to  be  able  to  go  seeking  these  where  thou  tellest  me.  For 
thee  I  die  loving,  if  thou  dost  not  aid  me." — **  If  thou  shouldst  have  to 
die  through  this  quest,  I  would  not  believe  that  I  should  have  love  for 
thee ;  but  if  thou  thinkest  to  die  before  the  year  ends,  I  (shall)  have 
masses  said  for  thee,  as  other  women  do." 

*  Thus  it  happens  to  me  similarly  as  to  the  bird  that  goes  and  does 
not  return  ;  because  of  the  agreeable  food  that  it  finds,  it  remains  in  a 
place,  and  keeps  to  it.     Thus  my  heart  .  .  . 


LYRICAL  POETRY  IN  CENTRAL  ITALY 


93 


And  the  lady  replies  : 


lo  mi  disdico  che  non  ho  tao  core, 
E  s'  io  r  avessi,  lo  ti  renderia  ; 
Ma  poi  non  1'  ho,  richiedilo  ad  Amore, 
A  cui  lo  desti  per  la  tua  foUia.^ 

A  sonnet  by  Chiaro  contains  an  idea  that  occurs  frequently 
later  on,  and  especially  in  Dante's  lyrics.  He  celebrates  his 
lady  by  comparing  her  with  the  splendour  of  the  sun  that 
bathes  everything  in  its  light,  and  as  one  dispensing  salva- 
tion and  blessings,  the  mere  sight  of  whom  confers  joy  and 
happiness : 

La  risplendente  luce,  quande  appare. 

In  ogni  scura  parte  da  chiarore, 

\^otanto  ha  di  virtute  il  suo  guardare. 

Che  sovra  tutti  gli  altri  e  il  suo  splendore. 
Cosi  madonna  mia  face  allegrare, 

Muando  lei,  chi  avesse  alcun  dolore.  ...  * 

Altogether,  Chiaro  Davanzati,  a  Florentine  of  whom  we 
know  that  he  fought  in  the  battle  of  Monteaperti  (1260)  and 
that  he  was  no  longer  living  in  the  year  1280,  is  the  poet  in 
whose  works  this  change  in  the  poetic  manner  may  best  be 
studied.  It  is  true  that  we  find  him  in  the  greater  part  of 
his  numerous  poems  in  beaten  tracks,  as  a  disciple  of  the 
Sicilians  and  later  of  Guittone,  while  in  some  passages  there 
are  manifest  traces  of  the  influence  of  Guido  Guinicelli, 
which  is,  however,  not  yet  of  any  great  importance.  But 
elsewhere  his  originality  and  spontaneousness  surprise  us, 
sometimes  just  in  those  very  cases  where  he  is  imitating. 
One  of  his  canzoni — "  Non  gik  per  gioja  ch*aggia  mi  con- 
forto  " — takes  its  subject  from  a  poem  of  Sordello — "  Bel 
cavalier  me  plai  que  per  amor."  But  here  Chiaro  has  dealt 
exceedingly  freely  with  his  model.  What  he  found  was  a 
poem  consisting  of  two  short  stanzas  with  refrain.  The  idea 
contained  therein,  that  a  knight  had  died  of  love,  and  that 

*  I  deny  having  thy  heart,  and  if  I  had  it,  I  would  give  it  back  to 
thee ;  but  since  I  have  it  not,  demand  it  of  Amore,  to  whom  thou 
gavest  it  through  thy  folly. 

^  The  resplendent  light,  when  it  appears,  distributes  radiance  in 
every  obscure  place ;  so  much  power  has  its  look,  that  its  brilliance  is 
over  all  others.  So  my  lady,  when  one  looks  at  her,  makes  him  joyful 
who  might  have  any  pain.  .  .  . 


94     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

this  would  assuredly  convert  the  ladies  and  make  them  more 
compassionate,  this  idea,  which  was  at  any  rate  more  original 
than  others,  took  his  fancy,  and  he  made  use  of  it,  with  many 
additions  of  his  own,  for  a  far  more  extended  poem,  which 
has  certainly  gained  in  the  expansion.  The  same  independ- 
•  ence  is  shown  in  the  case  where  he  has  used  a  poem  of 
Guittone,  namely,  the  aforementioned  canzone  of  the  Aretine 
which  was  itself  a  reproduction  of  the  Provengal  form  of  the 
plazer.  He  selected  some  of  the  rules  of  life  contained  in 
this  moralising  poem,  and,  freeing  them  from  their  mono- 
tonous dryness,  transformed  them  into  charming  Httle 
sketches,  each  of  which  is  comprised  within  a  sonnet. 

In  many  other  poems  by  Tuscans,  as  in  those  of  Maestro 
Francesco,  Maestro  Rinuccino,  of  Compiuta  Donzella,  of 
Padno  Angiolieri  and  of  Maestro  Migliore,  a  considerable 
innovation  may  at  least  be  remarked  in  the  matter  of  form. 
V  The  language  has  lost  its  archaic  character,  and  has  become 
more  rapid  and  fluent.  The  Provengal  and  dialectical 
elements,  the  heavy  and  involved  periods,  disappear  more 
and  more,  giving  way  to  a  natural  and  elegant  form  of 
speech.  This  may  be  observed  even  in  those  poems  which, 
in  all  other  respects,  fall  within  the  old  range  of  ideas,  as  in 
the  canzone  of  Bondie  Dietaiuti :  "  Madonna,  m'e  awenuto 
simigliante."  After  a  comparison  (taken  from  Bemart  de 
Ventadom)  with  the  lark,  which  soars  up  to  the  light,  and 
then  sinks  down  dazzled,  the  poet  continues  : 

£  cosl  sormontai,  donna,  veggendo, 
Ch^  mi  doni  amore  T  ardimento 
Di  voi  amar,  sovrana  di  beltate, 
Ma  sospirando,  lasso,  e  piangendo 
Son  dichinato,  poi  va  in  perdimento 
Per  me  merc^,  e  frango  in  pietate. 
Ma  piii  m'  aggrada  X  amoroso  foco, 
Ove  il  mio  core  ardente 
Per  voi  si  sta,  piacente, 
Che  per  un*  altra  aver  sollazzo  e  gioco.* 

Here  there  is  not  a  single  original  turn.     The  boldness  given 

'  A°t  ^^  ^  '^^^^  myself  on  high,  lady,  seeing  thee,  for  love  gave 
me  the  boldness  to  love  thee,  supreme  in  beauty.  But  sighing,  alas, 
and  wccpmg,  I  have  fallen  low,  and  am  dashed  down  into  wretched- 
ness, since  for  me  mercy  is  lost.  But  the  fire  of  love  is  dearer  to  me 
in  which,  oh  gracious  lady,  my  glowing  heart  lies  for  your  sake,  than 
through  another  to  have  joy  and  solace. 


LYRICAL   POETRY  IN   CENTRAL  ITALY 


95 


by  Amore,  the  heart  burning  in  the  fire  of  love,  the  readiness 
rather  to  suffer  for  Madonna's  sake  than  to  be  rewarded  by 
another,  all  these  traits  are  commonplaces  from  the  repertory 
of  the  Sicilian  school,  and  the  same  remark  applies  to  the 
image  of  the  basilisk,  to  the  appellation  of  the  lady  as  chiaro 
miraglio  and  to  the  explanation  of  the  origin  of  love  that 
follows.  But  these  things  are  expressed  in  so  simple,  tender, 
and  skilful  a  manner,  that  they  may  almost  be  said  to  be 
imbued  with  a  fresh  charm.  Here,  too,  we  remark  the  pre- 
sence of  a  new  inspiration,  a  gradual  transformation  from  the 
old  manner,  before  the  actual  disappearance  of  the  latter. 
We  have  here  a  school  of  transition,  which  stands  midway 
between  the  Tuscan  followers  of  the  Sicilians,  such  as 
Guittone,  Buonagiunta,  and  Dante  da  Majano,  and  the  new 
school  of  the  dolce  siil  nuovo,  beginning  with  Guido  Guinicelli. 

These  poets  of  the  transition  are  almost  all  Florentines,  a 
fact  which  shows  that  this  city  was  destined  to  become  the 
centre  of  literary  development.  Their  opposition  to  the 
stubborn  followers  of  the  old  school  was  by  no  means  un- 
conscious ;  on  the  contrary,  we  have  contemporary  evidence 
of  a  regular  literary  polemic.  A  sonnet,  written  either  by 
Chiaro  Davanzati  or  by  Maestro  Rinuccini,  is  directed 
against  Buonagiunta  Urbiciani,  and  reproaches  him  with 
having  adorned  himself  with  the  property  of  the  Notary  of 
Lentini,  as  the  crow  in  the  fable  did  with  the  feathers  of  the 
other  birds ;  in  other  words,  he  reproaches  him  with  servile 
imitation.  Dante  da  Majano,  who  coarsely  scoffed  at  the 
youthful  Dante  Alighieri  when  he  sent  his  first  sonnet  to  the 
famous  poets,  was,  in  his  turn,  on  a  similar  occasion  (when 
he  had  sung  of  a  vision,  and  invited  poets  to  interpret  it  for 
him)  derided  by  Guido  Orlandi,  a  poet  who,  at  any  rate  in 
part,  favoured  the  new  hostile  literary  movement. 

Before  leaving  these  first  attempts  at  a  more  original  style 
of  poetry,  we  have  still  to  consider  a  group  of  poems  which 
are  distinguished  from  those  that  have  hitherto  been  treated 
by  a  powerful  realism.  In  a  song  by  Compagnetto  da  Prato : 
"  Per  lo  marito  c'  6  rio,"  a  wife  complains  of  her  bad  husband, 
and  rejoices  at  the  revenge  she  is  about  to  take  on  him. 
Here  we  have  the  reverse  of  that  world  of  chivalry  which 
was  usually  presented  in  the  poems,  and  find  ourselves  in 
the  lower  regions  of  every-day  life,  from  which  the  subjects 


I 


96      HISTORY   OK   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 
f  »!,»  nnvpU  and  fabliaux  of  the  Middle  Ages  are  drawn, 
diitutte  the  lover.,  «,b«ve  h«  '«?"»  '"f  "?  ,„„j  j, 

severance,  but  the  w,fe  grants  ^!:^^°^f''Xhed  her  with 
she  is  angry  with  her  husband  He  has  reproached  ^^^ 
infidelity  without  cause  :  now  he  washes  t"?""^^" 
to  make  his  suspicions  come  true.  1  he  «=°"^="""  ^,  jhe 
oftencomplains  of  the  spy  who  °verhX';^.»°;;f^f^^,^^  S' 
lusingatore.  This  figure  here  assumes  '^«,^"'S^;'°™  °^^ 
old  neighbour,  who  watches  the  domgs  of  the  young  coupie 

with  looks  full  of  venom  : 

Drudo  mio,  a  te  mi  richiamo 
D'una  vecchia  c'  6  a  vicina,_ 
Ch'  ella  s'  e  accorta  ch'  lo  t  amo, 
Del  suo  mal  dir  no  rifina.' 

^„^ci-       A    dialocue   ensues — a   tavounte  lorni  ui  yyj     j 
Cy  are  alone  in  the  chamber.     Her  desires  are  o  a  very 
definite  nature,  and  she  suffers  -  d;gres--     He  -  to  act. 

::n'trhrNZt\"rt^:strttabir^^^^^ 

of  thrchi^airous  poetry  is  formed  by  this  frank  expression  of 

^Twr:qmouspoen.h.e.^^^^^^^ 

LlStTar.!' ShTuSS.  f  d  -  ^edeHckJ^^^ 
It  is  difficult  to  determine  with  certainty  whether  they  were 
It  IS  o'"'^"''^  c^„thprn  m  bv  Tuscan  poets  ;  the  latter  sup- 
composed  by  Southern  or  oy  ^"='^'  J^,    , ,'      T     the  first 

Cnd  S^":!  .  he,  10,,  Im  he,  Che,  l""i«J»  ""« 
h"  »  i,o,he,.     She  beg.  him  to  protect  he,  (,om  Ih,.  fete, 

evil  words. 


LYRICAL  POETRY   IN   CENTRAL   ITALY 


97 


but  he  consoles  her  and  exhorts  her  calmly  to  marry  the 
man  she  hates,  as  so  many  others  did,  seeing  that  this  would 
not  prevent  them  from  continuing  to  love  each  other  and  to 
be  happy : 

Assai  donne  mariti  anno 
Che  da  lor  son  forte  odiati ; 
De'  be'  sembianti  lor  danno, 
Per6  non  son  di  piii  amati. 
Cosi  voglio  che  tu  faccia, 
Ed  averai  molta  gioia.  .  .  .  ^ 

In  the  second  poem,  "  Di  dolor  mi  convien  cantare,"  the 
situation  is  not  clear,  because  three  verses  have  been  omitted 
from  the  second  stanza,  owing  to  a  mistake  of  the  scribe. 
The  main  portion,  however,  is  again  devoted  to  a  wife's  com- 
plaint concerning  her  husband,  very  similar  to  the  one  in 
Compagnetto's  first  poem.  She  desires  his  death ;  she  will 
then  lament  his  loss  before  the  world ;  but  in  her  heart  she 
will  rejoice,  and  praise  God  for  having  set  her  free. 

In  Provencal,  and  especially  in  Old  French  lyrical  poetry, 
we  meet  with  similar  realistic  examples  by  the  side  of 
the  conventional  abstract  poems.  The  court  poetry  moved 
in  an  unreal,  artificial  world ;  and  what  was  hidden  behind 
this  world  is  shown  by  the  satires  and  tenzoni  of  the 
troubadours  that  are  often  so  severe.  This  veil  of  con- 
ventionalism was  at  times  rent  asunder  by  the  poets  them- 
selves, who  disclosed  the  lower  sphere  of  reaUty — that  of 
the  husbands  who  quarrel  with  their  wives,  beat  them,  and 
scold  them ;  that  of  the  wives  who  are  dissatisfied  with 
their  husbands,  and  yield  to  their  lovers.  Of  this  class 
there  are  many  among  the  old  French  romances,  the  one 
beginning,  "  Un  petit  devant  le  jour,"  especially,  showing 
many  points  of  resemblance  with  the  fourth  of  the  above- 
mentioned  Italian  songs :  here  the  poet  reproduces  a  dia 
logue  between  a  knight  and  his  mistress,  who  had  been  im- 
prisoned in  a  tower  by  her  jealous  husband.  In  a  Provencal 
poem,  beginning,  "  S'  anc  fui  belha  ni  prezada,"  a  lady  in- 
veighs  against  her  bad  husband,  who   was  given  her  on 

Many  women  have  husbands,  who  are  very  much  hated  by  them  ; 
they  show  them  a  fair  mien,  but  they  are  none  the  more  loved  for  that. 
Thus  do  I  wish  that  thou  shouldst  do,  and  thou  wilt  have  much 
joy-   •  .  . 

I-  H 


98      HISTORY   OF  EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

account  of  his  wealth,  and  consoles  herself  with  the  thought 
that  she  has  her  friend,  and  the  faithful  watchman  who  shields 
their  love  from  dangers.  Similar  sentiments  are  expressed  in 
the  charming  ballad,  "  Coindeta  sui,  si  cum  n'ai  greu  mar- 
tire."  Considering  how  closely  the  Italians  were  acquainted 
with  the  literature  of  their  western  neighbours,  it  may  be 
admitted  that  they  were  indebted  to  them  also  for  the  idea 
of  treating  poetically  such  ordinary  subjects  of  every-day  life. 
There  is,  however,  no  proof  of  this  imitation  in  individual 
cases;  such  proof  is,  indeed,  out  of  the  question,  for,  as 
Tobler  has  pertinently  remarked,^  "the  only  lesson  that 
could  be  learned  from  these  (models)  was  the  art  of  opening 
one's  eyes  to  those  things  that  were  before  one's  eyes ;  but 
the  things  themselves  differed  in  the  two  countries."  Since 
the  conditions  differed  in  reality,  the  poetry  that  was  engaged 
in  representing  them  assumed  a  character  totally  different 
from  that  of  its  models. 

A  very  similar  state  of  things  existed  with  regard  to  a  cer- 
tain resemblance  with  the  Provencal  and  French  pastoral 
poetry.  In  the  case  of  the  "  Rosa  fresca "  we  decided 
against  such  an  influence ;  but  it  can  certainly  be  traced  in 
two  Tuscan  poems,  in  the  dialogue  of  the  gemma  leziosa, 
which  has  already  been  mentioned  (here  the  appellation 
villanella  proves  that  the  lover  is  addressing  a  peasant  girl), 
and  in  an  anonymous  poem,  "Part'  io  mi  calcava,"  which  has 
often,  without  reason,  been  ascribed  to  the  same  Ciacco  dell' 
Anguillaia.  In  the  former  the  situation  is  very  similar,  but 
the  spirit  in  which  the  persons  speak  is  different.  In  the 
latter  the  poet,  as  so  often  in  the  pastorals,  tells  of  a  ride 
during  which  he  has  overheard  a  conversation.  But  there 
the  similarity  ends,  in  this  case  also  ;  it  is  limited  to  the  out- 
ward form.  The  subject-matter  of  the  dialogue  and  of  the 
entire  poem  is  different  to  anything  that  may  be  found  in 
the  French  pastorals ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  frequently  met 
with  in  Italian  popular  songs.  A  country  girl  complains 
that  no  one  gives  her  a  husband,  and  her  mother  scolds  her 
for  her  boldness.  A  popular  ballad,  probably  of  Bolognese 
origin,  which  treats  of  this  subject,  and  which  will  be  dealt 
with  farther  on,  has  come  down  to  us  from  the  thirteenth 
century. 

Jenaer  Literaturzeitung,"  1878,  p.  669. 


I  (( 


IV 


GUIDO   GUINICELLI    OF   BOLOGNA 

IN  Tuscany  the  poetry  had  undergone  a  gradual  change 
through  contact  with  popular  poetry,  or,  at  any  rate,  with 
popular  sentiment.  But  the  further  development  of  Italian 
literature  cannot  be  primarily  traced  back  to  the  people,  the 
new  school  which  Dante  set  against  the  old  is  not  the  direct 
continuation  of  the  popular  realistic  tendency.  The  artificial 
poets  sought  their  inspiration  not  in  the  simplicity  and 
freshness  of  nature,  but  in  the  profundity  and  deep  signific- 
ance of  their  ideas.  Learning  is  the  distinctive  feature  of 
the  new  school.  There  now  arose  in  Italy  a  period  of 
growing  zeal  for  scientific  studies ;  the  writings  of  Aristotle 
had  become  more  generally  known  through  the  translation 
made  at  the  command  of  Frederick  11. ;  and  philosophical 
studies,  hitherto  less  favoured  than  the  practical  sciences,  were 
now  cultivated  with  enthusiasm,  and  were,  indeed,  recognised 
at  the  famous  old  University  of  Bologna  on  an  equal  footing 
with  jurisprudence  and  grammar.  In  Bologna,  too,  the 
dolce  stil  nuovo  took  its  rise,  founded  by  Guido  Guinicelli, 
whom  Dante  called  his  father,  and  the  father  of  the  best 
love-poets : 

II  padre 
Mio  e  degli  altri  miei  miglior,  che  mai 
Rime  d'  amore  usar  dolci  e  leggiadre. 

Guido  Guinicelli,  of  the  noble  family  of  the  Principi,  is 
mentioned  in  documents  from  the  year  1266,  later  on,  with 
the  title  oi  judex,  that  is,  skilled  in  jurisprudence.  Like  so 
many  others,  he  suffered  severely  from  the  internal  struggles 
of  his  native  city ;  in  1247,  when  the  Ghibelline  party  of  the 
Lambertazzi,  to  which  his  family  belonged,  were  driven  out, 
he,  too,  was  banished.  It  is  not  known  whether  he  went  to 
Faenza,  in  common  with  the  majority  of  the  exiles,  or  where 


lOO      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

he  settled;  he  died  young  in  1276.  That  is  all  that  is 
known  of  the  poet's  life,  but  it  is  sufficient  to  enable  us 
to  determine  the  period  of  his  literary  activity.  He  himself 
had  at  first  followed  the  manner  of  the  Sicilians,  and  the 
majority  of  his  poems  show  no  marked  difference  from  those 
of  the  Southern  court  poets ;  we  find  in  his  works  the  same 
commonplaces,  the  same  emptiness  and  monotony,  the  same 
images  and  similes.  He  also  attempted  the  essentially  Pro- 
venc^al  artifice  of  obscure  speech  together  with  the  empty 
triflings  of  the  rime  equivoche  in  the  canzone,  "  Lo  fin  pregio 
avanzato."  During  that  period  he  even  acknowledged  him- 
self to  be  a  disciple  of  the  famous  Master  Guittone  of 
Arezzo,  sent  him  one  of  his  poems  for  criticism  and  improve- 
ment, addressed  him  in  the  accompanying  sonnet,  "  O  caro 
padre  meo,"  and  assured  him  that  he  regarded  him  alone  as 
master  in  that  art.  Hence,  if  Dante,  when  he  eulogised 
Guido  so  much,  was  considering  all  his  poems  without  dis- 
tinction, his  judgment  would  be  incomprehensible;  however, 
in  speaking  thus,  he  was  probably  thinking  of  the  famous 
canzone,  "Al  cor  gentil  ripara  sempre  amore,"  of  several 
sonnets  such  as  "  lo  vo'  del  ver  la  mia  donna  laudare,"  per- 
haps also  of  the  song  quoted  by  him  ("  De  El.  Vulg."  ii.  6), 
"  Tegno  di  foUe  impresa  alio  ver  dire,"  with  the  beautiful 
words  in  praise  of  the  lady's  beneficent  influence,  and  pos- 
sibly, too,  of  other  poems  now  lost.  The  canzoni  in  the 
conventional  manner,  and  the  panegyric  of  Guittone, 
obviously  belong  to  an  earlier  period  of  Guido's  life,  after 
which  he  went  his  own  way.  This  change  in  his  poetry  took 
place  under  the  influence  of  science.  Philosophy,  which  in 
that  age,  when  Thomas  Aquinas  and  Bonaventura  were 
teaching,  had  again  come  to  be  regarded  with  favour,  pene- 
trated even  into  poetry,  which  drew  from  it  its  subject-matter, 
and  even  the  manner  of  its  exposition.  The  canzone  of 
"  Amore  e  cor  gentile"  begins,  as  it  were,  with  a  philosophical 
thesis,  to  the  effect  that  Amore  takes  its  place  only  in  a 
noble  heart,  in  a  heart  filled  with  virtue  and  exalted  feelings, 
and  this  proposition  is  then  illustrated  by  a  series  of  com- 
parisons. 

The  question  as  to  the  nature,  origin  and  influence  of 
Amore  was  an  old  one;  it  had  already  occupied  the  Provencals, 
and,  later  on,  the  Italians  had  treated  it  very  frequently  and 


GUIDO  GUINICELLI  OF   BOLOGNA 


lOI 


I 


with  special  predilection.  But  the  solution  had  always 
been  the  same,  one  of  those  trivialities  which  one  invariably 
imitated  from  the  other.  Love,  it  was  said,  springs  from 
seeing  and  pleasing,  the  image  of  beauty  penetrates  through 
the  eyes  into  the  soul,  takes  root  in  the  heart  and  occupies 
the  thoughts — which  is  nothing  but  a  superficial  statement, 
describing  the  subject  without  fathoming  it.  In  Guido's  can- 
zone, an  entirely  new  conception  takes  the  place  of  this 
well-worn  succession  of  phrases.  Love  seeks  its  place  in 
the  noble  heart,  as  the  bird  in  the  foliage ;  nobiUty  of  heart 
and  love  are  one  and  inseparable  as  the  sun  and  its 
splendour ;  as  the  star  imparts  its  magic  power  to  the  jewel 
when  the  sun  has  purified  it  from  all  gross  matter,  in  the 
same  way  the  image  of  the  beloved  lady  enflames  the  heart, 
which  nature  has  created  noble  and  pure ;  and,  as  fire  by 
water,  so,  too,  every  impure  feeling  is  extinguished  by  the 
contact  of  love ;  the  sentiment  inspired  by  the  loved  lady 
shall  fill  him  who  is  her  devoted  slave,  even  as  the  power  of 
the  Deity  is  transmitted  into  the  heavenly  intelligences. — To 
such  a  degree  has  the  conception  of  love  changed;  the 
earthly  passion  has  become  transfigured,  and  has  been 
brought  into  contact  with  the  sublimest  ideas  known  to 
man ;  it  is  a  philosophical  conception  of  love,  and  the  similes 
that  serve  to  illustrate  and  to  explain  it  in  so  elaborate  and 
diversified  a  manner,  show  no  traces  of  the  old  repertory : 

Ferre  lo  Sole  il  fango  tutto  '1  giorno, 
Vile  riman,  ne  il  Sol  perde  calore  ; 
Dice  uomo  altier  :  gentil  per  schiatta  torno  ; 
Lui  sembro  al  fango,  al  Sol  gentil  valore.  ^ 

Here  we  plainly  see  the  thinker  who  desires  his  image  to 
be  significant  and  expressive,  though  sometimes  losing  sight 
of  the  beautiful.  To  the  old  school  this  departure  from  the 
ordinary   manner   appeared    to    be    affectation,   and    this 

'  The  sun  strikes  the  mire  the  whole  clay,  it  remains  vile,  and  the 
sun  loses  no  warmth  ;  a  haughty  man  says  :  '*  I  am  noble  through  my 
race  ; "  him  I  compare  with  the  mire,  and  noble  worth  with  the 
sun. — A  fourteenth  century  collection  of  maxims,  the  "Fiore  di  Virtii," 
chap,  xxxvii. ,  quotes  the  sentence  :  II  sole  sta  in  su  lo  fango,  e  non 
se  gliene  appicca,  e  della  gentilezza  che  presta  non  se  n'  ha  se  non  lo 
nome — as  a  saying  of  Aristotle,  without  doubt  wrongly. 


I02      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 


energetic  brevity  intentional  obscurity,  to  which,  it  is  true, 
it  led  soon  enough.  These  accusations,  together  with  that 
of  artistic  incapacity,  were  made  by  Buonagiunta  of  Lucca 
in  a  sonnet  against  Guido,  who,  however,  replied  to  the 
pretentious  criticism  in  cold  and  haughty  words  of  remon- 
strance— "Uomo  ch'  e  saggio  non  corre  leggiero." 

And  so  this  school  is  distinguished  from  the  old  by  its 
endeavour  to  attain  a  greater  depth  of  thought,  by  an  in- 
increase  of  vigour  and  a  fresh  earnestness.  Amore  and 
Madonna  remain  abstractions,  but  they  are  imbued  with  a 
new  significance.  Madonna  is  still  the  sum  of  all  perfection  ; 
but,  at  the  same  time,  she  becomes  a  symbol,  the  incarna- 
tion of  something  more  exalted.  The  love  inspired  by  her 
passes  beyond  her  towards  virtue,  to  the  highest  good ;  the 
chivalrous  love  of  the  Provencals  has  become  spiritual  love. 
A  symbolical  and  allegorical  character  is  imparted  to  poetry, 
whose  real  aim  gradually  comes  to  be  the  expression  of 
philosophic  truth,  shrouded  in  the  beautiful  veil  of  the 
image,  as  Dante  has  defined  it.  This  introduction  of  science 
is  not  in  itself  a  poetic  element,  but  the  new  subject-matter 
stands  in  inner  relation  to  the  personality  of  the  poet,  and  is 
not  merely  adopted  from  without ;  the  scientific  symbolism 
does  away  with  the  old  well-worn  phrases,  and  in  this  way 
free  rein  is  again  given  from  time  to  time  to  passion.  This 
constitutes  the  main  point  of  difference  from  the  poetry  of 
Guittone.  Guittone  moralised  and  syllogised,  and  remained 
dry  and  prosaic  all  the  time.  Love  and  learning,  thought 
and  imagination,  were  not  yet  united  as  in  the  works  of  the 
new  school.  He  gave  nothing  but  the  bald  truth,  without 
the  beautiful  veil.  The  poetical  imagery  and  warmth  of 
feeling  were  wanting,  as  we  find  them  in  Guido  Guinicelli ; 
for  example,  at  the  close  of  his  famous  canzone,  the  most 
perfect  piece  of  his  that  we  possess,  God  reproaches  the 
soul  with  having  likened  its  earthly  love  to  heavenly  things, 
and  it  excuses  itself  in  the  following  terms  : 

Donna,  Dio  mi  dira,  che  presumisti  ? 

Siando  1'  alma  mia  a  lui  davanti  : 

Lo  ciel  passasti  e  fino  a  me  venisti, 

E  desti  in  vano  amor  me  per  sembianti  ; 

Ch'  a  me  convien  la  laude 

E  alia  Reina  del  regname  degno, 

Per  cui  cessa  ogni  fraude. 


GUIDO  GUINICELLI   OF   BOLOGNA  IO3 

Dir  li  potro  :  Tenea  d'angel  sembianza 

Che  fosse  del  tuo  regno  ; 

Non  mi  fue  fallo,  s'  io  le  puosi  amanza.  ^ 

This  is  the  kind  of  passage  in  which  Dante  recognised  a 
kindred  spirit  and  the  "  sweet  new  style  "  which  he  adopted. 
The  loftiness  of  thought  and  the  genuine  enthusiasm  in 
Guido's  poems  could  not  fail  to  attract  him.  The  well- 
known  canzone  inspired  him  in  one  of  his  own  on  nobility, 
and  in  a  sonnet  ("  Amore  e  cor  gentil ")  in  which  he  calls 
his  predecessor  the  "  Wise."  Reminiscences  from  the  same 
piece  occur  also  in  the  "Commedia."  In  a  sonnet  that 
treats  a  favourite  theme,  the  salutary  effect  of  the  sight  of 
the  beloved  lady,  Guido  approaches  very  closely  the  style  of 
his  great  admirer : 

Passa  per  via  si  adorna  e  si  gentile, 

Ch'  abbassa  orgoglio  a  cui  dona  salute, 

E  fa'  1  di  nostra  fe',  se  non  la  crede. 

E  non  la  pub  appressar  uom  che  sia  vile ; 

Ancor  ve  ne  dirb  maggior  virtute  : 

Null'  uom  pub  mal  pensar,  finche  la  vede."^ 

These  verses  Dante  undoubtedly  had  in  mind  when  he  said 
in  the  canzone  '*  Donne  ch'  avete  intelleto  d'amore  "  : 

Ancor  le  ha  Dio  per  maggior  grazia  dato, 
Che  non  pub  mal  finir  chi  le  ha  parlato.  ^ 


'  "  Woman,"  God  will  say  to  me,  "  what  hast  thou  presumed  to 
do?  "  (when  my  soul  is  before  him).  "  Thou  hast  passed  through  the 
heavens,  and  art  come  unto  me,  and,  in  thy  vain  love,  didst  take  me 
for  likeness.  To  me  is  due  the  praise,  and  to  the  Queen  of  the  worthy 
realm  through  whom  all  fraud  has  an  end."  I  shall  be  able  to  say  to 
him  :  *'  She  resembled  an  angel,  that  might  be  a  member  of  thy  king- 
dom ;  and  so  I  did  no  wrong,  in  setting  my  love  on  her." — The  fourth 
verse  has  often  been  misunderstood.  In  his  enthusiasm  the  poet  took 
God  himself  as  an  image  for  the  object  of  his  love.  This  boldness  he 
feels  himself  bound  to  justify,  and  his  justification  consists  in  the 
loftiness  and  purity  of  his  love.  This  is  no  earthly  passion  ;  it  is  the 
reflection  of  heavenly  beauty  in  his  beloved  that  enthrals  him. 

"^  She  goes  her  way  so  fair  and  noble,  that  she  lowers  the  pride  of 
him  whom  she  greets,  and  makes  him  of  our  faith,  if  he  did  not  believe 
in  it  (before).  And  a  man  who  is  vile  cannot  approach  her.  A  greater 
virtue  still  I  shall  tell  you  of  her :  no  man  can  think  evil,  while  he 
beholds  her. 

•^  A  still  greater  grace  has  God  conferred  on  her :  he  who  has 
spoken  to  her  cannot  come  to  a  bad  end. 


I04     HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

In  Bologna  itself  there  are  very  few  traces  of  a  continua- 
tion of  Guido  Guinicelli's  artistic  aspirations.  On  that 
account  Casini  altogether  refused  to  admit  that  there  had 
been  a  Bolognese  school ;  but  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
among  the  three  Bolognese  poets,  whom  Dante  eulogises  in 
addition  to  Guinicelli,  there  is  one  of  whom  we  know  nothing 
at  all,  while  of  another  scarcely  anything  has  come  down 
to  us.  The  former  is  Guido  Ghisilieri,  probably  identical 
with  a  Guido  di  Upizzino  Ghisilieri,  who  is  mentioned  in 
documents,  and  was  born  about  the  year  1244.  Fabrizio 
or  Fabruzzo  de'  Lambertazzi,  who  was  banished  with  his 
family  in  1 274,  like  Guinicelli,  and  is  named  among  the  heads 
of  the  banished  party  as  late  as  the  year  1294,  is  the  author 
of  an  extant  moralising  sonnet,  which  contains  a  reflection  to 
the  effect  that  the  judgment  of  the  world  is  based  only  on 
results  and  not  on  the  wisdom  or  fooHshness  of  actions. 
Better  known  to  us  is  Onesto  of  Bologna,  of  whom  we  have 
two  canzoni,  twenty-three  sonnets  and  a  ballad.  He  is  a 
later  poet ;  for  whilst  he  has  a  polemic  with  Guittone  in  a 
sonnet,  yet  he  directs  others  to  Cino  da  Pistoja.  Guido's 
influence  is  manifest  in  his  poems,  though  it  is  somewhat 
superficial.  In  the  one  canzone,  which  is,  as  far  as  it  has 
come  down  to  us,  quite  unintelligible,  we  find  again  the 
thought  of  Guinicelli  : 

Quand'  egli  appar,  Amor  prende  suo  loco 
Sendo  deliberato,  non  dimora 
In  cor  che  sia  di  gentilezza  fora.  ^ 

This  idea  afterwards  became  the  dogma,  as  it  were,  of  the 
school,  by  which  its  disciples  may  be  recognised.  A  sonnet, 
"L'anima  e  criatura  virtuata,"  gives  a  definition  of  the  soul, 
developed  according  to  the  regular  scholastic  method. 

It  was  in  Florence  that  Guido's  learned  poetry  found  its 
greatest  adherents,  those  that  did  not  merely  adopt  the  new 
style  {Vuso  moderno\  but  also  perfected  it.  Among  these  were 
Guido  Cavalcanti  and  Dante  Alighieri. 

It  is  a  very  interesting  phenomenon,  and  one  that  we 
shall  find  again  among  the  Florentine  followers  of  Guido 
Guinicelli,  that  the  originator  of  so  severe  and  lofty  a  style 

*  When  it  appears,  Love  takes  its  place  with  deliberation,  it  remains 
not  in  a  heart  that  is  without  nobility. 


GUIDO  GUINICELLI  OF  BOLOGNA 


105 


did  not  disdain,  at  times,  in  a  jocose  and  scoflftng  vein,  to 
descend  to  a  completely  realistic  manner.  We  have  two 
sonnets  of  this  kind  by  him,  the  one,  concerning  the  Lucia 
with  the  many-coloured  cowl,  at  sight  of  whom  his  heart 
quivers  more  violently  than  a  serpent's  head  that  has  been 
hacked  off,  so  that  he  longs  to  kiss  her  mouth  and  both  her 
eyes  of  flame — a  delightful  expression  of  natural  feeling; 
the  other,  a  very  drastic  invective  against  a  malignant  old 
woman,  on  whose  head  he  heaps  every  possible  curse : 

Diavol  te  levi,  vecchia  rabbiosa, 
E  sturbigion  te  fera  in  su  la  testa. ^ 

Here,  then,  the  learned  poet,  too,  approaches  the  style  of 
popular  poetry. 

A  poetry  of  the  people  existed  in  Bologna  as  well  as  in 
other  places,  together  with  artificial  poetry ;  just  in  this 
city,  indeed,  it  had  a  better  fate  than  in  Tuscany,  and 
several  remnants  of  some  importance  have  come  down  to  us. 
The  Bolognese  notaries  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries  often  diverted  and  amused  themselves  by  writing 
down,  in  the  collections  of  public  records,  Italian  songs, 
which  introduce  into  the  midst  of  Latin  legal  documents, 
with  their  heavy  formal  jargon,  an  echo  of  the  loves  and 
pleasures  of  the  gay  and  joyous  world.  In  Italy  the  law  was 
always  glad  to  ally  itself  with  poetry,  as  may  be  seen  from 
the  many  poets  of  those  days  who  were  lawyers,  judges  and 
notaries.  The  majority  of  the  poems  in  question  belong  to 
the  artificial  category,  and  many  of  them  are  known  to  us 
from  other  sources ;  but  others  are  popular  in  their  general 
character,  and  also  in  the  strongly  idiomatic  colouring  of  the 
language.  From  the  record  we  learn  at  the  same  time  the 
period  in  which  they  were  current.  A  document  of  this 
kind,  dated  1286,  contains  the  fragment  of  a  ballad  begin- 
ning with  the  words  "Partite,  amore,  a  deo."  It  is  the  fare- 
well of  two  lovers  in  the  early  morning,  as  we  find  it  depicted 
in  the  Proven9al  Albas  and  in  the  German  Tagelieder.  The 
words  of  the  girl,  who  warns  her  lover  that  it  is  time  to 
depart,  are  tender  in  the  intensity  of  their  passion :  *'  Kiss 
me  once  again,  and  then  go  "  : 

^  May  the  devil  take  you,  wrathful  old  woman,  and  may  confusion 
strike  thee  on  the  head. 


I06      HISTORY   OF   EARLY    ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Or  me  l)assa,  oclo  meo. 
E  tosto  sia  r  andata. 

In  a  record  of  the  year  ,305,  we  have  the  little  f  "f  f  *^ 
nightingale,  so  simple  in  its  contents.  The  boy's  little  bird 
hLffloln  away  out  of  its  cage  ;  he  weeps  and  goes  .nto  the 
wood ;  he  hears  it  sing  and  begs  it  to  come  back.  I  he 
form  of  the  piece  is  entirely  in  keeping— short  verses  of  six 
syllables,  tripping  childishly  along.  This,  too,  is  probably 
only  a  fragnient  It  is  an  innocent  cry  of  nature,  pleasing 
and  touching  by  its  very  simplicity,  and  by  the  impression  it 
conveys.     But  just  on  that  very  account  it  is  impossible  to 

Quite  different  in  character  are  three  poems  from  a  record 
of  the  year  1282,  all  of  them  ballads,  like  the  pieces  already 
mentioned.     Here  we  have  a  coarse  and  vulgar  humour, 
intended  to  excite  the  laughter  of  a  less  refined  public      In 
them  are  described  in  the  crudest  way  the  adventures  of  two 
female  gossips,  their  obscene  actions  and  discourse      In  the 
second  poem  two  sisters-in-law  abuse  each  other  before  their 
neighbours.     They  manage  to  give  each  other  the  worst 
possible  character,  but  when  one  of  them  comes  to  touch 
dangerous  ground,  the   other   becomes   meek   and   makes 
promises  on  condition  that  the  secret  should  be  kept,  where- 
upon they  make  it  up  again,  in  order  to  be  able  to  deceive 
their  husbands  conjointly.     The  third  ballad  gives  us  a  dia- 
logue between  a  daughter  who  wishes  to  marry  a  young 
fellow,  and  her  mother  who  refuses  to  give  her  consent. 
But  the  scene  is  here  sketched  far  more  coarsely  than  in  the 
Tuscan  song,  "  Per  Arno  mi  cavalcava."     The  mother  arid 
daughter  hurl  curses  at  each  other ;  the  girl  does  not  yield 
in  spite  of  the  old  woman's  words  of  warning,  and  shows  no 
trace  of  modesty  in  the  expression  of  her  desires. 

A  lengthy  political  poem,  the  ''Serventese  dei  Geremei  e 
Lambertazzi,"  narrates  the  same  events  as  were  of  such 
moment  in  the  lives  of  Guido  Guinicelli  and  of  Fatazio 
Lambertazzi,  the  struggles  of  the  Guelphs  and  ^l^ibellines 
in  Bologna,  the  exile  of  the  latter  in  1274  and  1280,  and  the 
betrayal  of  the  town  of  Faenza,  where  they  had  taken  refuge 
to  the  Guelphs  of  Bologna,  through  the  instrumentality  ot 
Tibaldello  (1281).  The  number  of  details  and  of  names 
shows  that  the  poem  must  have  been  composed  soon  atter 


GUIDO  GUINICELLI  OF   BOLOGNA 


107 


q 


/.i 


the  occurrence  of  the  events.  It  may  have  been  intended 
to  be  publicly  recited  before  the  people ;  for  its  tone  is  that  of 
the  roving  minstrels,  the  exposition  is  irregular  and  lacking 
all  art,  there  are  many  idioms  in  the  language,  and  we  fre- 
quently find  assonance  in  the  place  of  rhyme.  The  metrical 
form  is  the  same  as  came  to  be  regularly  used  later  on  for 
productions  of  this  kind,  the  serventese.  The  characteristic 
trait  of  this  form  was  the  continuous  concatenation  of  the 
rhymes,  as  opposed  to  division  into  stanzas ;  at  the  end  or  in 
the  middle  of  each  section  (copula),  the  rhyme  was  started, 
which  was  then  taken  up  and  continued  by  the  succeeding 
copula.  In  the  earlier  periods,  the  poem  was  always  con- 
structed in  such  a  way,  that  a  copula  of  three  or  four  long  verses 
(consisting  of  eleven  or  of  seven  syllables),  which  rhymed 
together,  was  followed  by  a  shorter  one  (the  coda,  consisting 
of  five  or  four  syllables),  which  gave  the  rhyme  to  the  next 
division ;  and  this  is  also  the  form  of  the  Bolognese  poem 
(AAAbBBBcC  .  .  .).  The  name  of  Serventese,  therefore,  did 
not  mean  the  same  thing  in  Italy,  where  it  referred  to 
metrical  peculiarities,  as  in  Provencal  literature,  though  it 
was  probably  derived  from  the  latter.  The  subject-matter 
could  be  of  various  kinds :  thus,  one  of  the  Bolognese 
records  contains  a  love  serventese.  However,  the  form  was 
employed,  by  preference,  for  narrative,  moralising  and 
political  pieces,  for  which  purpose  the  uninterrupted  suc- 
cession of  verses,  without  any  strongly  marked  divisions 
into  stanzas,  was  especially  convenient.  And  so,  because  it 
so  often  resembled  a  moralising  sermon,  the  other  name, 
Sermintese,  which  was  usual  in  the  fourteenth  century,  may 
have  been  formed  by  popular  etymology,  as  also  the  form 
Ser?nontese,  employed  by  the  old  writer  on  metre,  Antonio 
da  Tempo.  Antonio  declared  it  to  be  a  popular  class  of 
poetry,  and  Francesco  da  Barberino,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  treated  it  contemptuously  as  minstrels' 
poetry,  which  was  unknown  to  the  art  poets. 


THE   FRENCH   CHIVALROUS   POETRY    IN    NORTHERN    ITALY 

LITERATURE  does  not  show  a  uniform  development 
from  the  outset :  it  begins  in  different  places  and  m 
different  ways.     Before  the  literature  of  a  single  provmce 
can  attain  the  supremacy,  subject  the  others  to  itself,  and 
thus  become  the  general  literature  of  the  whole  country,  it  is 
local  in  character.     The  first  attempts  at  poetical  composi- 
tion in  the  Italian  language  we  found  in  the  South  and,  soon 
after,   poetry  was  written  in  the  Centre  of  the  peninsula, 
where  it  underwent  a  considerable  transformation.     In  the 
North,  the  influence  of  the  adjoining  country  was  stronger, 
as  we  saw  quite  at  the   beginning,   and   not   merely   the 
manner,   but   also  the  language  of  Provencal   poetry  was 
adopted.     In  this  tongue  poetry  continued  to  be  written 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  thirteenth  century,  so  that  it  is 
plain  that  lyrical  court  poetry  composed  in  Italian  could  not 
spread  in  these  parts.     Dante  names  only  Ildebrandino  of 
Padua  and  Gotto  of  Mantua  as  poets  who  employed  the 
vulgare  illustre  in  Upper  Italy,  and  he  says  that  nobody 
composed  poetry  in  Ferrara,  Modena,  and  Reggio.     This 
may  be  correct :  for  the  Matulino  of  Ferrara,  whom  Salim- 
bene  mentions  as  the  author  of  canzoni  and  serventesi,  was 
probably  a  writer  of  popular  poetry.     The  titles  of  the  pieces 
in  the  old  collections  of  songs  are  not  accompanied  by  any 
names  which  would  point  with  certainty  to  Upper  Italy.     In 
a  legal  document,  however,  dated  December  23,  1277,  is 
preserved  a  poem  in  the  Venetian  dialect,  the   so-called 
"  Lament  of  the  Paduan  lady,  whose  husband  is  away  on  a 
Crusade."     This  title,  which  was  invented  by  the  editor, 
does  not  correspond,  at  any  rate,  exactly  to  the  subject- 
matter,  which  has  been  variously  interpreted ;  it  is  perhaps 
best  to  admit  that  the  real  context  of  this  curious  piece  of 


FRENCH   POETRY   IN    NORTHERN   ITALY       I09 

poetry  is  not  clear.     It  is  true  that  it  begins  with  a  lament 
of  the  lady  for  the  absence  of  her  husband  on  a  crusade  and 
with  the  assurance  of  her  fidelity  to  him,  by  way  of  protest 
against  a  dona  Frixa^  who  has  exhorted  her  to  be  cheerful 
and   not   to  grieve.      Then  we  are   told   how   the   other 
women  gave  her  right,  how  the  husband  returned,  and  how 
they  lived  together  in  perfect  love  and  accord.     Thereupon 
the  pilgrim  manifests  his  approval,  and  continues  with  the 
praise  of  his  lady  and  with  the  expression  of  the  hope  that 
he  will  finally  win  her  love,  though  bewailing,  at  the  same 
time,  his  present  grief.     How  does  this  close  fit  in  with  what 
has  gone  before  ?     Is  it  really  necessary  to  assume  that  all 
this  is  spoken  by  the  pilgrim,  as  has  been  thought  ?     In 
other  words,  does  he  himself  desire  to  disturb  that  conjugal 
fidelity  to  which  he  gives  such  high  praise  ?     The  trouba- 
dours love  married  women  ;  but  they  do  not  sing  in  praise 
of  their  marriage.     Or  is  the  lady  whom  the  pilgrim  loves  in 
no  way  identical  with  the  one  whose  fidelity  he  eulogises, 
and  does  he  introduce  her  conjugal  happiness  only  as  an 
example  of  what  he  hopes  for  himself?      In  the  present 
condition   of  the   poem,    it   is   impossible   to   decide  this 
question  ;  perhaps  a  beginning  is  missing,  which  explained 
these  points.     The  love  lament  of  the  pilgrim  at  the  close 
perhaps  stands  alone  among  the  poetical  efforts  of  Northern 
Italy  known  to  us  in  its  closer  similarity  to  the  lyrical  court 
poetry.     In  its  earlier  portion,  however,  the  poem  is  popular 
and  original,  and  the  love  of  a  husband  and  wife  who  are 
fondly  attached  to  each  other — a  theme  which  it  would  be 
difficult  to  find  again  in  the  poetry  of  those  times — is  treated 
m  a  simple,  natural,  and  engaging  manner. 

But  there  was  another  literature,  whose  influence  checked 
the  free  development  of  the  national  literature  in  Northern 
Italy — namely,  that  of  France.  This  was  scarcely  less 
thought  of  and  scarcely  less  widely  spread  in  the  Middle 
Ages  than  in  modern  times.  The  French  epics  and  ro- 
mances were  read  and  admired  throughout  the  whole  of 
Europe ;  the  events  they  narrated,  the  legendary  heroes 
they  celebrated,  were  often  proverbial  on  all  men's  tongues. 
In  Italy  we  find  not  only  that  the  French  originals  were 
translated  and  imitated,  but  also  that  not  a  few  of  the  authors 
in  composing  their  works  preferred  the  foreign  idiom  to 


,,0     HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

-So,  Mr  F,°  neb?  toe  French,  a.  he  »,.,  -.■  » 

diffused,  than  tne  ouieib.  exactly  the  same 

it  in  his  Venetian  Chronicle,  and  gives  ^^^^^'^  ",,...;. 
L  doing  so  even  using  the  identical  word  de/M/e, 
reason  for  doing  ^?;^y^"  ^^  when  he,  in  weighing 

^„:S;  at^SctSar  %f  o^nion.  which  we 

SSuently  expressed  "-/^-'^if:^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
therefore  have  ^--^y  f --J -^  o^^^^^^^^^^^  . 

™LrFrenchCs\ons,dered  the  proper  lar,guage,  and 

ds  Xscnbed  by  the  old  f  ^^thtee'r^r'n  "n" 
Paimon  Vidal  In  the  seventies  of  the  thirteenth  centur>. 
ScTan^of  Pisa  composed  in  Frerich  prose  a  ong^w.njg 

-t  rUTl^^  ?ar Slrf  :^n  the  year  ..,8 

4"  ^  r  tTJn  '"th^n^ktr  VZcL"  /rr'CSs 

fnd  Sve^Tu^he  FTeXoetry  of  chivalry,  especially 
that  oflheCafolingian  cycle,  brought  forth  on  Itahan  so,  a 
UrL  nroeenv  of  which  the  manuscripts  of  the  Library  oi 
M7 Venice  -e^HnirtranTcH ^^^^^^^  'TP^s 

tht '' GiTde  Nanteuil,"  the  introduction  o^jhich  .^^out  one 
.hnnsa^d  verses  in  length,  was  composed  by  the  Italian 
scribe  But  several  othirs  of  these  poems  are  new  produc- 
!•  K^Jna  mprelv  related  to  French  models,  or  even  entirely 
Uons,  b<5>"g'"^^'2^^f  ^f  both  combined  we  have  in  the  com- 


FRENCH   POETRY   IN    NORTHERN   ITALY       III 

example  of  the  latter  in  the  "  Entree  de  Spagne  "  (MS.  XXI.) 
and  in  the  so-called  "  Prise  de  Pampelune  "  (MS.  V.).  This 
is,  therefore,  a  regular  Franco-Italian  literature— French  epics 
composed  by  Italians. 

The  subject-matter  of  the  "  Entree  de  Spagne "  and  of 
the  "  Prise  de  Pampelune,"  namely  the  conquest  of  Spain 
before  the  treachery  of  Roncesvalles,  is  not  treated  by  any 
other  of  the  Old  French  poems  that  have  come  down  to  us ; 
they  would  therefore  fill  up  a  gap  in  the  poetical  versions 
of  the   legend   of  Charlemagne,  if  they  really  went  back 
to  French  chanso/is  de  geste.     But  this  is   very  doubtful. 
The   author   of  the    "  Entree "   narrates,  that  Archbishop 
Turpin  appeared  to  him  in  a  dream,  and  asked  him  to  make 
a  rhymed  version  of  his  chronicle,  and  in  the  beginning  of 
his  poem,  he  really  follows  the  narrative  of  the  Pseudo- 
Turpin.     Further  on,  he  declares  that  he  has  drawn  also 
from  Jean  of  Navarra  and  from  Gautier  of  Aragon,  who  are 
quite  unknown,  and  whom  he  must  have  invented,  in  order 
to  inspire  his  public  with  respect  for  his  learning.     Finally, 
he  himself  admits  that  one  portion  of  his  work,  and  that  the 
most  important,  is  his  own  invention.     He  makes  use  of  it 
in  order  to  form  a  connecting  link  with  the  long  siege  of 
Pampelona  and  with  Roland's  quarrel  with  the  Emperor. 
Roland  has,  without  the  knowledge  of  his  uncle,  undertaken 
an  expedition  against  Nobles  and  conquered  the  town ;  in 
spite  of  this  successful  result,  Charles  is  so  incensed,  that  he 
boxes  his  ears  on  his  return.     Roland  leaves  the  camp  in  a 
rage,  and  the  adventures  he  now  meets  with  in  distant  parts 
supply  the  author  with  a  subject  which  enables  him  to  dis- 
play his  own  gifts  of  imagination  or  to  repeat  trite  common- 
places that  were  already  in  use.     That  is  to  say,  they  are 
practically  occurrences  narrated  in  later  French  chansons  of 
the  different  Carolingian  heroes,  as  described  especially  in 
the  "  Huon  de  Bordeaux  " — strange  voyages  and  adventures, 
showing  the  influence  of  the  romances  of  the  Round  Table, 
and  of  the  epics  of  the  crusades.    Roland  goes  to  the  East, 
and,  under  an  assumed  name,  defends  a  Saracen  princess, 
Diones,  the  daughter  of  the  King  of  Persia,  against  an 
odious  wooer.  King  Malquidant,  who  threatens  her ;   he 
then  converts  the  whole  of  the  Persian  Sultan's  house  to 
Christianity,  takes  his  son  Samson  as  a  companion,  visits  the 


a'ai>^3t!ui>jMAerf!i* 


112      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

holy  places  of  Palestine,  and  starts  on  his  homeward  journey. 
On  the  way  he  is  thrown  on  a  desert  coast,  and  learns  from 
the  hermit  Samson,  with  whom  he  is  dwelling,  the  tidings 
which  had  been  revealed  to  the  holy  man  by  an  angel,  that 
he  has  still  seven  years  to  live,  that  he  will  conquer  and 
then  be  slain  by  treachery.  Finally  he  returns  to  Charles's 
army,  just  as  all  the  nobles  are  on  the  point  of  leaving  the 
service  of  the  Emperor.  The  reconciliation  follows  and  the 
struggle  against  the  Saracens  continues. — The  influence  of 
the  entire  poem  on  the  subsequent  shaping  of  the  literature 
of  chivalry  in  Italy  was  very  great ;  above  all,  it  was  this 
romantic  episode  that  could  not  fail  to  give  the  greatest 
pleasure,  and  it  became  the  model  for  many  of  the  later 
poems  and  romances,  in  which  the  hero  is  glorified  in  a 
similar  way.  One  trait  in  the  "  Entree,"  which  reveals  the 
nationality  of  the  author,  is  the  prominence  given  to 
Roland's  relations  with  Italy  :  at  the  beginning  of  the  war 
he  went  with  Oliver  to  Rome,  and  there  received  from  the 
Pope  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  champions  of  the  Church, 
whom  he  then,  as  senator  of  Rome,  leads  to  battle. 

The  ''Prise  de  Pampelune"  was  so  called  by  Michelant, 
but  its  title  is  not  particularly  appropriate ;  the  capture  of 
Pampelona  forms  the  subject  only  of  the  beginning  of  the 
work,  and  that  is  no  longer  extant.  At  the  place  where 
the  poem  now  commences  the  town  is  already  taken,  and 
expeditions  against  Estella,  Cordova  {Cordes),  and  other 
cities  follow ;  the  work  would,  therefore,  be  more  fitly  called 
"The  Conquest  of  Spain,"  and  it  is,  as  we  shall  see,  in 
reaUty  nothing  but  the  fragment  of  a  continuation  of  the 
"  Entree."  The  narrative  differs  from  the  majority  of  the 
chansons  de  geste  as  also  from  the  fairly  vivacious  "  Entree," 
by  its  lack  of  imagination  and  by  a  certain  dryness  that 
recalls  the  style  of  the  chronicles  ;  the  numerous  descrip- 
tions of  battles,  which  are  developed  with  a  kind  of 
strategical  precision,  and  with  frequent  and  exact  notifica- 
tion of  the  number  of  the  troops  (in  place  of  the  general 
exaggerations  of  the  old  chansons  de  geste,  the  uninterrupted 
course  of  the  action,  without  any  break  in  and  resump- 
tion of  the  thread,  as  was  usual  in  the  popular  poetry, 
all  show  a  tendency  towards  the  style  of  historical  narrative, 
so  striking  later  on  in  the  "  Reali  di  Francia  "  and  in  similar 


FRENCH  POETRY  IN   NORTHERN   ITALY       II 3 

books;  in  the  "Prise,"  as  in  these,  one  battle  regularly 
succeeds  the  other,  and  in  between  come  the  marches,  the 
surrenders  of  the  towns,  then  massacres  or  the  wholesale 
baptism  of  the  conquered  Saracens.  Here  agam  the 
patriotism  of  the  Lombard  author  shows  itself  m  the  im- 
portant role  assigned  to  Desirier  (Desiderius),  whereas  the 
poems  that  originated  in  France  make  no  mention  of  any 
part  taken  by  him  in  the  war  in  Spain.  Here  he  is  one  of 
Charles's  truest  and  bravest  vassals ;  Pampelona  was  con- 
quered owing  to  his  skill,  and  on  many  other  occasions  he 
contributes  largely  towards  the  successful  result  of  the  most 
important  events.  When  he  is  told  to  ask  the  Emperor  for 
a  favour,  he  demands,  in  the  place  of  land  and  people,  only 
privileges  for  his  Lombards,  that  none  of  them  should  ever 
become  slaves,  and  that  everyone  might,  without  being 
noble,  be  able  to  become  a  knight  (v.  341,  sqq,) : 

Le  don  que  je  vous  quier,  oiant  la  baronie, 

Est  que  frans  soient  sempre  tous  ceus  de  Lombardie  : 

Chi  en  comprast  aucun,  tantost  perde  la  vie  ; 

E  che  cescun  Lombard,  bien  qu'il  n'ait  gentilie 

Che  remise  li  soil  de  sa  ancesorie, 

Puise  estre  civaler,  s'il  a  pur  monantie 

Qu'il  puise  mantenir  a  honour  civalerie. 

E  si  veul  che  chescun  Lombard  sens  vilenie 

Puise  sempre  portier  gainte  la  spee  forbie 

Devant  les  empereres  ;  qui  veut  en  ait  envie. 

Autre  don  ne  vous  quier  ne  autre  segnorie. 

This  is  granted  to  him.  Charles  the  Great  says  to  Naime 
that  it  is  foolishness  to  ask  so  little.  But  his  wise  counsellor 
replies,  that  Desiderius  is  right  and  that  he  has  made  the 
noblest  demand ;  at  the  same  time  he  celebrates  Lombardy, 
the  King's  land,  as  the  fairest  of  all,  so  that  he  had  no  need 
of  any  other. 

As  the  second  poem  continues  the  action  of  the  first, 
after  an  interruption,  so,  too,  the  same  persons  appear  in 
both,  with  the  same  character  and  in  the  same  circum- 
stances;  some  of  them  do  not  occur  elsewhere  in  the 
literature  of  the  chansons  de  geste,  especially  Isori^,  the 
son  of  Malceris  of  Navarre,  and  Samson,  the  son  of  the 
King  of  Persia,  who  is  received  among  the  twelve  peers  and 
who  maintains  his  place  in   the  later   Italian   poetry  of 

I.  I 


114      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

chivalry.  Of  great  interest,  especially,  is  the  figure  of 
Estout,  who  is  of  but  small  importance  in  the  French  epics, 
but  who  now  plays  a  more  prominent  part  and  is  more  dis- 
tinctly characterised.  Estout  is  a  wag  ;  his  clumsy  wit  does 
not  spare  even  the  Emperor,  who,  together  with  the  barons, 
and  especially  his  truly  loved  friend,  Roland,  are  fond  of 
laughing  at  his  jokes.  He  takes  the  town  of  Toletele  by  a 
stratagem  ("  Prise,"  4842,  sqq.)  deceiving  the  inhabitants  by 
having  the  flag  of  the  enemy  carried  before  him,  after  their 
standard-bearer  had  been  killed.  Then  he  permits  himself 
a  practical  joke,  orders  all  the  draw-bridges  to  be  closed,  and 
refuses  admission  to  the  Christian  army.  Charlemagne 
says  (5078,  S(/q.): 

.  .  .   '  *Biens  sire  II estous,  pour  amour  yous  prion 
Che  vous  nous  hostalies  dedens  vetre  maison." 
"  Ne  ferai,"  dist  le  due,  '*  parle  aves  en  perdon. 
Ales  vous  aoberzier  par  delez  cil  boison  ; 
Car  ci  dens  ne  entreries,  bien  le  vous  afion." 
Iluec  estoit  Roland  qui  rioit  a  fuson 
Des  paroles  Ilestous.  .   .   . 

By  dint  of  friendly  words  and  by  invoking  the  love  he 
had  inspired,  Roland  succeeds  in  persuading  the  irreverent 
practical  joker  to  admit  the  Emperor  after  all.     In  the  case 
of  dangerous  exploits  Estout  is  always  distrustful,  and  warns 
his  companions,  without,  however,  himself  lacking  pluck  and 
courage.    Thus  we  have  in  this  mingling  of  chivalry,  foolish- 
ness and  levity,  an  original  semi-comical  character,  who  re- 
appears in  almost  exactly  the  same  shape  in  the  Tuscan  popular 
poems,  and  supplied  Bojardo,  and  finally  Ariosto,  with  the 
fundamental  traits  for  their  immortal  type  of  Astolfo.     And 
another  point  here  again  proves  the  great  importance  of  these 
two   Franco-Italian  poems  for  the  later   Italian  chivalrous 
literature.     In  the  latter  Astolfo  is  always  an  Englishman, 
whereas  he  was   Duke  of  Langres  in  the  French  legend. 
This  change  of  nationality  arose  from  a  misunderstanding 
on  the  part  of  the  author  of  the  "  Entree."   At  the  beginning 
he  calls  his  Estout,  quite  correctly,  de  Lengresds\A  Lengrois ; 
but  then  also  de  Lengles  and  Lenglois,   which  he  finally 
changed  into  rEnglois,  Englois,  without  noticing  the  great 
difference.    Even  in  the  "  Prise  "  Estout  never  occurs  other- 
wise than  as  an  Englishman. 


FRENCH    POETRY   IN    NORTHERN    ITALY        II 5 

The  author  of  the  "  Entree "  describes  himself  in  one 
passage  as  a  Paduan,  but  says  that  he  does  not  wish  to  give 
his  name.     It  was,  however,  thought,  that  he  had  been  m- 
ron^s^nt    since  a  certain  Nicholas  alludes  to  himself  by 
namfinle  last  lines  of  the  MS.  XXI. ;  and  so  the^^EnU  e 
de  Spagne"  was  considered  to  be  the  work  of  one  Nicholas 
of  Padua,  and  then  L.  Gautier  assumed  that  the  "  Prise 
was  also  by  him.     This  view  was  adopted  by  G.  1  aris.    ^ut 
subseauently  Gautier  withdrew  his  former  conjecture,  and  it 
was  p^vek' especially  by  P.  Meyer,  that  both  the  poerns 
could  not  be  from  the  same  pen,  owing  to  considerable  dif- 
ferences in  exposition,  metre,  and  language.    An  investigation 
of  A.  Thomas  finally  cleared  up  the  matter.     The  author  of 
the  "  Entree  "  really  did  not  name  himself,  and  we,  therefore, 
know  nothing  about  him  except  that  he  was  a  Paduan      On 
the  other  hand,  the  Nicholas  who  appears  in  the  last  lines 
is  not  identical  with  this  Paduan,  but  another  poet,  who 
composed  a  sequel,  as  the  words  thenriselves  clearly  show. 
To  this  sequel,  and  not  to  the  "  Entree,"  belong  the  last  one 
hundred  and  thirty-one  verses  in  the  manuscript,  and,  after 
a  long  interruption,  the  "  Prise  de  Pampelune     also  ;  what 
was  contained  in  the  gap  is  lost,  or,  at  any  rate,  at  present 
unknown.     The  great  similarity,  in  spite  of  the  numerous 
differences,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  writer  of  the  sequel 
had  the  work  of  the  Paduan  before  him,  and  endeavoured  to 
continue  it  in  the  same  manner.     Thomas  further  makes  it 
appear  probable,  that  this  author  of  the  "  Prise    is  identical 
with  the  Nicholas  of  Verona  of  whom  we  have  a  still  un- 
published Franco-Italian  poem  on  the  Passion  of  Christ, 
and  who  himself  says  at  the  beginning  of  this  poem,  that  he 
has    narrated  many   stories  in  verse,  and   in  the  Irench 

language.  .      .     ,  j     u-  u 

A  third  Franco-Italian  poem,  which  is  shorter,  and  which 
treats  a  subject  that  is  otherwise  unknown  in  Old  French 
literature,  belongs  to  quite  a  different  legendary  cycle,  that 
of  Troy ;  this  is  the  "  Roman  d'Hector,"  or,  as  it  is  called 
in  other  MSS.,  the  ''  Roman  d'Hercules."  It  contains  the 
story  of  a  fight  of  Hector  with  Hercules,  here  depicted  as  a 
terrible  giant,  whom  he  kills,  thus  avenging  the  fate  of 
Laomedon  and  Hesione.  A  different  form  is  employed,  in 
accordance  with  this  new  subject-matter.     While  the  pro- 


Il6      HISTORY  OF  EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

ductions  corresponding  to  the  chansons  de  geste  are  com- 
posed  in  the  usual  series  of  verses  of  ten  and  twelve  syllables 
joined  together  by  one  rhyme,  the  "  Hector"  has  verses  of 
eight  syllables  rhyming  in  pairs  like  Benoit's  "  Roman  de 
Troie,"  with  which  this  narrative  is  connected  ;  it  was,  as  Joly 
remarked,  a  history  of  the  youthful  exploits  of  the  hero— 
"  Enfances  d'Hector,"  such  as  were,  in  later  times,  often  added, 
by  way  of  introduction,  to  the  famous  chansons  de  geste. 

The  language  of  these  three  poems,  as  also  of  the  work  of 
Rusticiano  of  Pisa,  is  not  pure  French,  but  shows  clear  traces 
of  the  dialects  of  Northern  Italy,  for  the  most  part  of  such  a 
nature  as  to  exclude  the  possibility  of  their  havmg  been  in- 
troduced only  by  the  copyists.  Frequently  words  and  terms 
of  speech  are  employed,  which  are  quite  correct  in  Italian, 
but  were  never  used  in  French;  others  have  an  Italian 
colouring  in  their  phonetics.  Words  often  undergo  great 
changes,  too,  for  the  sake  of  the  rhyme.  And  finally,  the  pro- 
sody is  half  Italian  and  half  French  in  principle,  inasmuch  as 
all  the  vowels  are  subject  to  elision  and  syn?eresis,  but  not 
necessarily.  As,  moreover,  this  mingling  of  the  Italian  is 
due  to  the  individual  authors,  it  is  natural  that,  in  spite  of  so 
many  affinities,  there  should  also  be  linguistic  differences  in 
these  works;  it  should  be  noted  specially,  that  the  "  Prise" 
contains  more  Italian  elements  than  the  others. 

The  much  discussed  compilation  of  Franco-Italian  poems 
in  MS.  XIII.  of  St.  Mark's,  which  is  defective  at  the  be- 
ginning, comprises,  in  its  present  state,  the  "  Bueve  de  Han- 
stone,"  which  is  divided  into  two  parts  through  the  inter- 
calation of  the  story  of  Bertha  of  the  large  foot,  or,  as  she  is 
here  called,  with  the  large  feet  ("  Berta  de  li  gran  pie  "),  then 
the  youthful  adventures  of  Charles  the  Great,  here  named 
"  Karleto  "  (the  *'  Mainet "  of  the  French), "  Milo  "and  "  Bertha," 
two  poems  on  Ogier  the  Dane,  and  finally,  the  **  Macaire  " : 
it  is  therefore  a  cycUcal  compilation,  such  as  we  often  find 
in  the  later  chap-books,  and  probably  written  entirely  by  one 
man,  to  judge  from  the  uniform  character  that  runs  through 
the  whole.  These,  again,  must  not  be  regarded  as  poems 
that  were  merely  taken  over  from  the  French;  they  are 
either  transformed  versions,  that  go  back  only  to  the  oral 
traditions  of  the  originals,  or  real  additions  and  new  inven- 
tions.    To  the  latter  category  belongs  especially,  as  has  been 


FRENCH   POETRY   IN    NORTHERN   ITALY       II7 

remarked,   the  story   of  Milo   and   Bertha.     The   French 
ources  not  only  do  not  contain  it,  but  are  actually  in  con- 
radTct  on  with  it ;  besides,  the  scene  of  the  action  is  laid  m 
italv  and  Roland,  whose  youth  is  here  depicted,  was  in  Italy 
;  IVspecially  popular  aLng  the  heroes  of  t^e  Car^^^^^^^^^^^ 
legend.     In  addition  to  this,  an  original  trait  of  the  whole 
coSation  has  been  pointed  out,  which  had  a  decisive 
inTuence  on  the  subsequent  formation   of  the  legend   of 
SJin  Italy,  namely,  the  union  of  all  the  traitors  into 
one  glte  of  the  Maganzesi,  which  was  eventually  oppo^^^^ 
bv  the  loyal  heroes,  who  were  also  amalgamated  as  it  were 
hno  one  family,  that  of  Chiaramonte.     The  traitor  was  a 
tvpical  figure  of  the  chansons  de  geste ;  he  appears   every- 
where, now  under  this,  now  under  that  name,  as  Ganelon, 
Hardre,  Griffon,  and  so  on.    In  France,  too,  this  tendency  to 
make  all  these  felons  descend  from  one  family  was  already 
apparent,  but  it  was  in  Italy  that  this  unification  of  the  evi 
principle  first  acquired  its  great  importance  and  its  general 
predominance,  and  in  Italy  also  the  name,  which  dung  to 
them  ever  after,  of  those  of  Maganza  (Mayence)  first  struck 
root      As  G.  Paris  showed,  this  was  caused  by  a  confusion 
between  Doon  de  Maience,  the  ancestor  of  Ganelon,  but 
also  of  Renaut,  and  the  entirely  different  traitor  Doon  de 
Maience  in  the  '*  Bueve  de  Hanstone." 

The   Venetian   compiler's    mode   of    exposition    is    the 
clumsiest  and  baldest  imaginable.      He   was  obviously   a 
minstrel  of  the  lowest  order,  who,  by  his  dullness  and  dit- 
fuseness,  spoilt  even  fascinating  themes,  and  such  as  were 
adapted  to  successful  development.    The  formal  structure  ot 
the  works,  based  on  the  type  of  the  verse  of  ten  syllables, 
shows  an  extreme  want  of  care,  and  is  disfigured  by  an 
enormous  number  of  errors.     We  see,  therefore,  how  even 
writers  of  the  people  employed  the  foreign  idiom  for  their 
productions ;  but  this  was,  of  course,  mutilated  by  them  in 
a  curious  manner.     If  the  language  of  the  "  Entree     is,  in 
spite  of  this,  still  a  kind  of  modified  French,  it  is,  at  the 
same  time,  a  completely  barbarous  jargon,  in  which  continu- 
ally the  dialect  penetrates  into  the  strange  language,  the 
French  words  take  Italian  endings,  and  in  which,  finally,  the 
necessities  of  the  rhyme  are  the  cause  of  quite  extraordinary 
and  impossible  formations.     In  the  "  Berta,"  for  example, 


riilliifllrffiiiifntniiirnn<m«fcip— ■•■■"■  «"'■-'■ '-"•J'-<fc'^~.^'-*-^'i----t  -taj^**^:^^^^,^ 


Il8      HISTORY   OF   EARLY    ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Pepin  speaks  as  follows  to  those  whom  he  intends  sending 
away  for  the  purpose  of  fetching  his  bride : 

Qe  un  9ubler  qe  e  qui  arive 
Por  veoir  questa  cort  e  la  nobilite 
Tuto  li  son  afaire  el  m'a  dito  e  conte, 
Qe  in  la  dama  no  e  mil  faisite, 
Salvo  q'ela  oil  un  poco  grande  li  pe  ; 
Nian  por  90  non  vo'  je  qe  stage, 
Qi  la  po  avoir,  qe  no  la  demande.  ^ 

Scarcely  less  barbarous  than  in  this  cyclical  compilation 
are  the  form  and  language  in  the  greater  part  of  the  Venetian 
"  Song  of  Roland,"  in  the  MS.  IV.  of  S.  Mark's.  As  the 
subject-matter  of  this  text  is  very  closely  related  to  that  of  the 
genuine  Old  French  version  in  the  Oxford  MS.,  the  marked 
difference  in  the  expression  must  be  due  to  the  oral  tradition 
of  the  F\ench  poem. 

The  linguistic  corruption  in  this  second  category  of  literary 
monuments  cannot  be  solely  the  work  of  copyists,  any  more 
than  in  the  former  collection,  and  the  attempt  to  construct 
correct  Old  French  out  of  the  forms  that  have  come  down  to 
us,  made  by  Guessard  with  the  '*  Macaire,"  was  bound  to  fail 
in  spite  of  the  violence  of  the  means  employed.  The  original 
texts  must  have  resembled  exactly  or  very  closely  the  ones 
we  now  possess.  On  the  other  hand,  the  importance  of  this 
fact  has  been  much  exaggerated.  Bartoli  thought  he  de- 
tected the  germs  of  a  new  language,  which  was  on  the 
point  of  developing  out  of  the  mingling  of  French  with  the 
North  Italian  dialects.  But  the  phenomenon  was  certainly 
far  more  individual ;  hence  the  variety  of  the  dialectical 
elements  in  the  single  works,  according  to  the  culture  of  the 
writer,  while  the  similarity  of  certain  traits  is  accounted  for 
by  the  fact  that  the  dialects  thus  exerting  their  influence 
were  in  certain  cases  identical.  No  one,  not  even  Bartoli, 
believes  that  such  a  language  was  ever  spoken.  It  was  an 
artificial  product,  which  had  its  origin  in  the  assumption  that 
the  foreign  idiom  should  necessarily  be  employed  for  a  cer- 

'  For  a  minstrel,  who  has  come  here  to  see  this  court  and  the 
nobles,  has  told  and  related  to  me  everything  that  concerns  her,  that 
there  is  no  fault  in  the  lady,  except  that  her  feet  are  somewhat  large  ; 
nevertheless  I  do  not  wish  you  to  abstain  from  asking  for  her,  if  she  is 
to  be  had. 


FRENCH   POETRY   IN    NORTHERN   ITALY       II9 

tain  literary  genre.     In  Northern  Italy,  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  all  lyrical  poetry  was  written  in  Provencal,  while  the 
stories  that  came  from  France  were  retold  i"  French.     But 
the  difference  was  that  the  lyrical  writers  were  highly  cultured 
court  poets,  who  handled  the  langue  d'oc  in  such  a  masterly 
manner  that  their  verses  can,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
language,  be  very  rarely  distinguished  from  those  of  the 
troubadours.     The  narrative  writers,  however  belonged  to 
inferior  classes  of  society,  sometimes  even  to  the  body  ot  the 
people,  and,  while  they  endeavoured  to  write  French,  the 
words  in  their  hands  assumed  a  more  native  form,  exchanged 
their  terminations  for  those  usual  in  Italy,   and,  m  cases 
where  the  French  words  and  constructions  did  not  appeal 
quickly  enough  to  the  memory,  the  Italian  equivalents  were 
put  in   their  place.     They  imagined  that  they  were  thus 
writing  French,  and  disfigured  this  language  all  the  while 
with  the  idiom  they  spoke,  in  the  same  way  as  many,  m  the 
Middle  Ages,  thought  they  wrote  excellent  Latin,  and,  instead 
of  this,  produced  nothing  but  popular  Latin  in  Romance 

form.  ,  - 

At  all  events,  the  chivalrous  literature  that  came  trom 
France  had  at  that  time  penetrated  deeply  among  the  people; 
these  variegated  narratives  of  emperors  and  kings,  of  battles 
and  victories,  of  wild  Saracens,   of  conquered  giants  and 
liberated  princesses,  were  well  calculated  to  please  the  masses 
and   to  feed  their  mobile  imagination,  ever   thirsting   for 
novelty.     There  existed  at  this  period  wandering  minstrels 
who  recited  their  tales  to  the  people  in  the  streets,  as  m 
France,  and  this  is  proved,  if  proof  were  necessary,  by  the 
oft-quoted  decree  of  the  Commune  of  Bologna  (of  the  year 
X288)— "ut  Cantatores  Francigenarum  in  plateis  Communis 
ad  cantandum  omnino  morari  non  possint."     Only  it  is  not 
probable  that  the  productions  retailed  in  this  manner  to  the 
populace  were  of  the  same  kind  as  the  Franco-Italian  poems. 
It  is  true  some  have  thought  that  the  Italianising  process  we 
have  noted  in  these  was  intended  to  make  them  more  easily 
understood  by  the  uneducated  classes ;  but  it  cannot  be  taken 
for  granted  that  the  people  in  general  possessed  even  such  a 
knowledge  of  language  as  would  enable  them  to  comprehend 
this  jargon  at  a  first  hearing.     It  is  better  to  assume,  as  Pio 
Regna  does,  that  for  the  public  recitals  of  the  street  singers 


I20      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

a  later  form  was  employed,  in  which  the  French  themes  were 
clothed.  This  consisted  of  versions  in  the  Venetian  dialect 
with  certain,  though  much  fainter,  traces  of  the  foreign 
idiom.  While,  then,  in  the  real  Franco-Italian  literature, 
French  forms  the  basis,  and  the  dialectical  Italian  elements 
are  of  a  secondary  nature,  these  other  poems  show  the  con- 
trary process,  the  Italian  dialect  forming  the  groundwork, 
and  the  French  colouring  being  merely  superficial.  In  the 
Venetian  "  Bovo  d' Antona,"  we  have,  for  example,  the 
following  (v.  170,  sqq.) : 

"  Fiolo,"  disse  Synibaldo,  "  porestu  9ival9er 

Palafren  o  destrer  ?    A  San  Simon  voio  ander  ; 

Che  quelo  me  dona  to  per  ; 

Per  quelo  castelo  so  vassal©  me  fa9o  clamer  ; 

El  h  ben  trenta  ani  ch'el  me  1'  a  doner. 

Se  a  c^iiel  castelo  te  posso  mener, 

lo  fliro  guera  po'a  sta  cite." 

Respoxe  Bovolin  :  **  lo  poro  bien  9ivalcer 

Destrer  e  cavalo  chi  me  possa  porter ; 

Infin  a  San  Simon  avero  ander."  ^ 

The  form  and  style  of  narrative  of  this  poem  show  the 
same  clumsiness  as  the  Franco-Italian  productions  in  the 
MS.  XIII. ;  still  it  is  superior  to  these  in  rapidity  and  con- 
ciseness, and  in  its  rough  simplicity  does  not  fail  to  make  a 
certain  impression  on  the  reader.— The  same  idiomatic 
character  is  possessed  by  the  scanty  remnants  of  the  versions 
that  were  made  in  Italy  of  the  Animal  Epic  which  was  so 
popular  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The  "Rainardo  e  Lesangrino," 
contained  in  an  Oxford  MS.,  a  fragment  of  eight  hundred 
and  fourteen  very  irregular  verses,  rhyming  in  pairs,  and 
based  on  the  type  of  the  octosyllabic  line,  includes  two 
branches  of  the  story,  the  well-known  accusation  and  defence 
of  Renard  at  the  court  of  King  Noble,  and  an  adventure 
with  the  goat,  which  Renard  wishes  to  outwit— a  contest  in 
which  Isengrin,  as  usual,  comes  off  second  best.     Another 

*  "Son,"  said  Synibaldo,  "  couldst  thou  ride  on  palfrey  or  steed? 
To  San  Simone  I  wish  to  go  ;  for  this  castle  thy  father  gave  to  me  ; 
owmg  to  this  castle,  I  let  myself  be  called  his  vassal ;  it  is  quite  thirty 
years  ago  since  he  gave  it  to  me.  If  I  can  bring  thee  to  this  castle,  I 
shall  then  wage  war  against  this  city."  Bovolin  replied  :  "  I  shall  well 
be  able  to  ride  on  war-steed  or  on  horse  that  can  carry  me  :  as  far  as 
San  Simone  I  shall  ride." 


FRENCH  POETRY  IN   NORTHERN   ITALY 


121 


version,  discovered  not  long  ago  m  the  Archiepiscopal 
Library  of  Udine,  appears  to  be  complete  m  severi  hundred 
and  three  verses,  and  narrates  the  same  two  stories  1  he 
contents  of  the  two  MSB.  are  identical  also  m  pomt  of  detail, 
verses  and  groups  of  verses  from  the  Oxford  fragment  recur- 
ring almost  word  for  word  in  the  other  piece :  one  of  the 
two  versions  must,  therefore,  be  the  original  of  the  other,  or 
both  must  go  back  to  the  same  source.  Pio  Rajna  assumes 
that  this  Venetian  epic  poetry,  with  a  French  colouring,  ot 
which  only  a  few  monuments  are  now  known,  was  once  very 
extensive,  and  that  it  was  kept  alive  on  the  lips  of  the 
wandering  minstrels,  and  forms  the  link  between  the  Old 
French  and  the  later  Tuscan  versions  of  the  legends  of 

^  The  Franco-Italian  literature  covered  a  longer  period.    It 
probably  began  in  the  second  half  of  the  thirteenth  century ; 
but  it  is  impossible  to  state  with  certainty  whether  any  of  the 
texts  that  have  been  preserved  belong  to  this  time.     The 
"Entree"  and  the  "Prise"  should  probably  be  ascribed  rather 
to  the  fourteenth  century.    At  all  events,  the  use  of  disfigured 
French  for  the  chivalrous  poetry  of  Northern  Italy  continued 
for  a  long  time  during  this  century.     A  MS.  of  the  Tunn 
library  contains  a  poem  on  Huon  d'Auvergne  and  his  journey 
to  Hell,  whither  he  has  been  sent  by  Charles  Martel,  in  order 
to  obtain  the  tribute  of  Lucifer.    It  is  in  Italian,  but  exceed- 
ingly rough  and  irregular  in  form ;   frequently  it  makes  no 
sense  at  all,  and  points  to  an  original  which  was  already 
not  purely  French,  but  Franco-Italian,  and  which  an  ignorant 
adaptor  rendered  verse  by  verse  into  his  own  dialect.    Now, 
in  this  poem  we  find  many  traces  of  the  "  Divine  Comedy  " ; 
the  Franco-Italian  original  must  therefore  have  belonged  to 
a  period  subsequent  to  the  first  quarter  of  the  fourteenth 
century.     No  less  closely  connected  with  Dante  is  another 
"Ugo  d'Alvernia"  in  a  Paduan  MS.,  written  in  the  Venetian 
dialect,  with  a  few  French  elements,  like  the  "  Bovo  "  and 
and  the  "  Rainardo  "  ;  in  some  passages,  it  is  closely  related 
to  the  Turin  poem,  but  in  others  it  shows  marked  differences, 
so  that  it  probably  goes  back  to  a  third  version,  likewise 
Franco-Italian.      In  the  year   1358  Niccolo  da  Casola   of 
Bologna  wrote  for  the  Princes  of  Este  a  long  poem  on  the 
subject  of  "  Attila,"  in  barbarous  French  and  quite  in  the  style 


122      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

of  the  popular  epic.  And,  finally  the  latest  product  of  the 
Franco-Italian  literature  is  the  prose  romance  of  *'  Aquilon 
de  Baviere,"  the  only  prose  work  of  that  kind  dealing  with  a 
subject  of  the  Carolingian  legend,  composed  by  Rafaele 
Marmora,  probably  a  Veronese,  between  the  years  1379- 
1407.  The  hero  Aquilon,  the  fifth  son  of  Duke  Naime,  and 
the  story  itself,  were  probably  invented  by  the  author.  In 
the  meantime,  the  Tuscan  chivalrous  poetry  in  stanzas  of 
eight  lines  had  already  begun  to  flourish,  and  so  the  poem, 
as  A.  Thomas  remarked,  is  a  real  anachronism.  The  author 
himself  gave  a  further  proof  of  this,  by  adding  a  number  of 
Italian  eight-line  stanzas  at  the  beginning  and  end. 

In  the  same  way,  then,  that  lyric  poetry  in  Italy  had  began 
in  Provenc^al,  narrative  poetry  began  in  French.  But  the 
latter  appealed  to  a  different  public  ;  it  contained  in  itself 
more  elements  of  vitality,  and  therefore  marks  not  only  the 
close  of  a  literary  development  on  foreign  soil,  but  becomes 
at  the  same  time  the  beginning  of  a  new  and  original  ^e^ire^ 
which  naturally  required  a  long  period  in  which  to  blossom 
forth  fully  from  the  old  germs.  The  French  legend  of 
chivalry  found  connecting  links  in  Italy,  which  facilitated 
the  process  of  acclimatisation.  Charles  the  Great  was  im- 
mensely popular.  As  the  restorer  of  the  Roman  Empire  he 
had  come  to  be  regarded  by  the  Italians  almost  as  one  of 
themselves  ;  he  appeared  as  the  representative  of  the  Latin 
race  as  opposed  to  German  traditions,  and,  according  to  the 
legend,  he  had  also  rebuilt  Florence,  destroyed  by  Attila  or 
Totila.  However,  although  the  legend  of  chivalry  lasted  on, 
it  had  lost  its  old,  original  meaning  ;  the  spirit  that  had  once 
created  it,  the  ideal  with  which  it  had  become  bound  up,  no 
longer  corresponded  to  the  existing  conditions,  not  even  in 
France,  where  the  period  of  the  true  epic  had  long  passed. 
What  still  attracted  the  people  in  these  stories,  was  not  so 
much  a  deep  patriotic  and  religious  interest,  as  the  great 
mass  and  variety  of  the  events,  the  splendour  of  the  per- 
sonages introduced  ;  to  excite  wonder  and  admiration,  to 
satisfy  the  curiosity  and  delight  in  adventures — these  were 
the  aims  of  the  narrator.  This  was  no  subject  for  epic  treat- 
ment, if  only  for  the  reason  that  the  legend  was  not  national 
and  had  not  grown  on  the  native  soil,  but  was  imported ; 
it  could  now  produce  nothing   but  minstrels'  poems  and 


FRENCH   POETRY   IN    NORTHERN   ITALY        I23 

romances  for  the  edification  of  the  people.  In  this  plain 
and  mode  t  form  it  lived  on  for  almost  two  centuries,  m 
olr^  reappear  in  the  works  of  Pulei,  Bojardo  and  Anosto 
IXed  with  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance  and  changed 
in  its  very  essence. 


>f?-^'>rtfi''ii«<fca-a-j;v«^ja'-Jhjiajt'j^;MiAjfJiAi.  jit'.vj  na.'T.S^iM^A 


VI 


RELIGIOUS   AND    MOK Al-    POETRY    IN    NORTHERN  ITALY 

ITALY  did  not  possess  a   national   heroic  poetry,  with 
which  Uterature  mostly  begins.     I'his  may  be  due  to  the 
disposition  of  the  people,   but    perhaps,   in    a  still  greater 
degree,  to  its  history  and  to  the  mode  of  feeling  that  was 
fostered  by  this  history.      Medieval  Italy  lacked  a  strong 
national  feeling,  the  feeling  of  a  national  unity;  it  lacked 
great  and  powerful  native  princes,   and   general  struggles 
against  terrible  foes,  such  as  we  find  in  France  and  in  Spain. 
Moreover,  the  period  during  which  the  popular  legends  and 
the  epic  traditions  were  formed  among  other  nations,  was  no 
heroic  epoch  for  Italy.     The  dominion  was  in  the  hands  of 
foreigners,  and  the  great  military  deeds  were  in  this  country 
achieved  by  Lombards  (before  these  had  come  to  form  part 
of  the  nation),  by  Franks,  and  by  German  Emperors  ;  the 
Normans  as  victors  and  as  conquerors  of  the  Saracens,  were 
Frenchmen  and  not  yet  Italians,  and  the  traces  they  left  in 
epic  poetry  are  found  in  French  literature.     Nowhere  do  we 
see  any  Italian  glory,  any  national  pride,  any  national  hero. 
Yet  the  Italians  also  had  their  heroic  period.     This  was 
occupied  with  the  struggles  of  the  cities  for  their  liberty, 
which  are  so  full  of  poetical  elements,  of  patriotism,  energy, 
wild  delight  in  warfare  and  barbarism,  and  with  the  bold 
naval  battles  of  the  Pisans,  Genoese  and  Venetians.    But  in 
these  enterprises  the  strength  of  the  nation  was  not  con- 
centrated on  one  object,  and  the  struggles  were  carried  on 
on  behalf  of  individual  municipalities,  and  not  for  the  sake  of 
the  fatherland  in  the  wider  sense.    And  this  period  of  power 
and  warlike  spirit  falls  in  a  luminous  and  historic  period, 
in  which  learned  studies  are  recommenced,  in  which  men's 
minds  revert  to  antiquity,  in  which  chronicles  are  written 
and  no  more  legends  are  formed. 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  POETRY  IN  N,  ITALY      125 

Tust  because  there  was  a  lack  of  native  themes  for  narrative 
noetry,  foreign  ones  had  been   so  readily   adopted      But 
[l?ese  foreign  themes,  dealing  with  the  legend  of  chivalry, 
were  not  based  on  the  deeper  foundations  of  the  nation  s 
manners  and  general  aims:  they  served  only  to  divert  and 
to  entertain.     It  is  not  here,  in  the  street  singers   rhymes 
concerning  Charles  and  Roland  and  Oliver,  that  we  shall 
have  to  seek  the  expression  of  the  deep  and  serious  interests 
of  the  time  and  people ;  this  we  shall  find  elsewhere,  in  the 
various  versions  of  the  theme  which,  being  common  to  all 
Christian  nations,  could  not  fail  to  be  equally  popular  with 
them  all.     Religious  poetry  occupied  itself  with  the  lottiest 
theme  that  can  interest  humanity,  with  the  great  question 
which  in  a  believing  age,  formed  the  incessant  care  of  men  s 
minds    the  centre  of  moral  and  intellectual  activity— the 
question  of  eternal  salvation,  of  the  soul's  redemption,  and  of 
a  future  existence,  compared  with  which  the  present  earthly 
life  appeared  insignificant  and  contemptible.     This  subject, 
which  was  so  deeply  rooted  in  man's  innermost  soul,  con- 
tained germs  of  poetry  destined,  at  the  touch  of  genius,  to 
show  their  fertility,  but  first  presenting  themselves  to  us  in 
the  clumsy  compositions  of  popular  poets. 

Northern  Italy  possesses  a  considerable  number  of  religious 
poems  belonging  to  the  thirteenth  century.     The  oldest  of 
the  monuments  of  this  class  composed  in  those  parts  are  a 
rhymed  Decalogue,  which  paraphrases  the  ten  command- 
ments somewhat  clumsily,  adding  examples  from  Holy  Writ, 
by  way  of  strengthening  the  precepts,  and  a  Salve  Regina, 
both  in  the  dialect  of  Bergamo.     The  MS.  containing  them 
is  said  to  be  of  the  year  1253.     The  notaries  of  Bologna  at 
times  wrote  down  in  their  documents  pious  poems  instead 
of  the  love  songs.    A  record  of  1 2  7  9  contains  a  Pater  Noster, 
in  which  one  or  more  Latin  words  of  the  prayer  are  always 
supplemented  by  Italian  words,  in  such  a  way  as  to  form  a 
pair  of  verses.     Another  document,  dated  1294,  gives  us  a 
sonnet  on  the  Virgin,  and  in  a  MS.  of  Ferrara,  of  Bolognese 
origin,  are  preserved  a  lauda  and  a  song  of  praise  in  verses 
of  seven  syllables  with  irregular  rhymes,  both  of  them  again 
on  the  subject  of  the  Virgin  Mary.    Then  we  have  works  of 
considerable  length  by  Uguccione  da  Lodi,  Barsegape,  Fra 
Bonvesin  da  Riva,  and  Fra  Giacomino,  of  Verona.     These 


If 


126      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

are  priests,  who  expound  to  the  people,  in  a  manner  that 
they  can  understand  and  in  their  own  dialect,  the  sacred 
traditions  and  the  truths  of  faith.     In  spite  of  the  fact  that 
the  authors  belong  to  different  parts,  all  four  of  them,  as 
well  as  many  other  writers  of  Northern  Italy  of  that  and 
later  periods,  write  almost  the  same  language,  which,  of  the 
present  dialects,  approaches  most  closely  to  the  Venetian, 
though  it  also  contains  elements  of  the  Milanese  as  it  is 
now  spoken.     It  was   therefore   formerly  assumed  that  a 
literary  language  had  begun  to  develop  here,  to  which  the 
Venetian  had  served  as  a  model,  like  the  Tuscan  in  Central 
Italy.     But  Ascoli  has  proved  that  the  present  form  of  the 
dialects  cannot  be  taken  as  a  standard  of  their  former  state, 
and  that  the  formations  which  are  now  regarded  as  being 
characteristic  only  of  one  or  the  other   of  the   Northern 
dialects,  were  in  the  beginning  more  widely  diffused  and 
existed  as  doublets,  so  that  the  writers  could  choose  between 
them.     The  forms  that  occur  in  these  poems  were,  accord- 
ingly, really  oral,  only  that  in  addition  to  them  there  were 
others  which  remained  in  the  dialect,  while  the  former  died 
out.     It  is  true  that  this  constitutes  the  beginning   of  a 
literary  idiom,  the  formation  of  which  may  always  be  said  to 
commence  the  moment  the  dialect  is  set  down  in  writing  ; 
the  selection  of  certain  forms,  and  the  preference  given  to 
these  over  others,  is  the  method  by  which  a  literary  language 
is  formed.     But  the  standard,  according  to  which  the  selec- 
tion was  made,  was,  as  Ascoli  remarked,  not  so  much  the 
Venetian  as  the  Provencal,  which  exercised  so  wide  an  in- 
fluence everywhere,  and  the  French ;  those  elements  of  the 
dialect  were  preferred  which  came  nearest  to  these  idioms, 
that  were  already  adapted  to  literary  use.     The  influence  of 
the  Latin  is  also  very  natural  in  the  writings  of  the  priests, 
and  is  unmistakable  at  any  rate  in  the  orthography ;  and  so 
we  have  in  this  selection  of  forms,  and  in  this  mode  of 
adaptation  to  a  foreign  and  learned  ideal,  a  process  that  is 
not  unlike  the  one  that  was  assumed  by  us  to  explain  the 
formation  of  a  literary  language  in  Southern  Italy. 

The  poem  of  Uguccione  da  Lodi  is  a  long-winded  sermon, 
very  faulty  in  composition  and  full  of  repetitions  ;  it  exhorts 
mankind  to  abandon  earthly  vanities,  by  dint  of  bearing  in 
mind  inevitable  death  and  the  terrible  punishment  of  hell. 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  POETRY  IN  N.  ITALY      1 27 

In  one  passage  the  sermon  changes  into  a  prayer,  for  the 
author  himself  is  a  penitent  sinner,  who,  till  his  old  age, 
allowed  himself  to  be  dazzled  by  false  worldly  splendours, 
and  who  formerly,  when  he  girt  on  his  sword,  believed  him- 
self to  be  more  valiant  than  Roland,  and  now  prays  God  to 
have  mercy  on  his  soul, 

Pietro  di  Barsegapb,  who  names  himself  thus  several 
times,  belonged  to  an  ancient  and  noble  family  of  Milan, 
whose  name  was  in  Latin  documents  written  a  Basilica  Petri, 
and  was  contracted  in  the  vulgar  tongue  to  Bascape.  He 
narrates  in  a  long  poem  which  is  contained  in  a  MS.  of 
1274,  *'how  God  created  the  world,  and  how  man  was 
formed  of  earth  ;  how  God  descended  from  heaven  to  earth, 
in  the  pure,  regal  Virgin ;  and  how  he  endured  the  passion, 
for  our  great  salvation ;  and  how  he  shall  come  on  the  day 
of  wrath,  when  the  great  perdition  shall  take  place  "  : 

Como  Deo  a  fato  lo  mondo, 
E  como  de  terra  fo  1'  omo  formo  ; 
Cum  el  descende  de  eel  in  terra 
In  la  vergene  regal  pol9ella  ; 
E  cum  el  sostene  passion 
Per  nostra  grande  salvation  ; 
E  cum  vera  al  di  de  1'  ira, 
La  o'  sera  la  grande  roina. 

It  is,  therefore,  the  entire  great  Christian  epic  of  the 
Fall,  the  Redemption,  and  the  Last  Judgment.  The  account 
of  the  original  sin  is  made  the  occasion  for  the  introduction 
of  long  moral  reflections  on  human  corruption  and  on  the 
struggle  of  the  soul,  which  would  wish  always  to  live  in  a 
state  of  penance  and  severe  discipline,  with  the  refractory 
body,  by  which  it  is  seduced  to  sensual  pleasures.  Then 
follows  the  denunciation  of  the  world  and  of  its  empty  joys, 
from  which  we  must  turn  away,  if  we  would  be  saved ;  the 
seven  mortal  sins  are  called  the  seven  women  with  whom 
man  has  wanton  intercourse,  and  on  whose  account  he  must 
needs  descend  to  hell.  The  entire  narrative  is  exceedingly 
simple,  without  ornament  of  any  kind ;  it  mostly  follows  the 
Biblical  tradition,  with  certain  concessions  to  the  ideas  of 
the  time  and  of  the  hearers,  as  where  Judas  is  called  the 
seneschal  and  cellarer  of  the  Lord,  or  where  the  Holy 
Virgin,  after  giving  birth  to  the  Saviour,  goes  to  church  and 


^ 


128      rilSTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

hears  the  mass  sung.  But  the  order  and  clearness  of  this 
simple  narrative  are  remarkable,  and  it  must  have  left  a  con- 
siderable impression  on  the  less  cultivated  among  the  listeners. 
It  is  a  short  reproduction  for  the  people  of  all  that  they 
were  to  believe,  and  the  author's  own  unshaken  faith  imparts 
a  certain  warmth  to  his  recital.  And  so,  although  this  is 
not  yet  poetry,  properly  speaking,  still  the  germs  are  there 
from  which  poetry  was  destined  to  develop.  It  is  necessary 
to  seek  the  origin  of  a  thing,  when  the  thing  itself  is  not  yet 
in  existence. 

The  verses  of  Fra  Giacomino  of  Verona  are  no  less  rough 
and    clumsy  than    those  of   Barsegapl- ;  the  author  was  a 
Franciscan  monk  of  little  culture.    But  these  very  facts  bring 
us  into  closer  touch  with  the  people  and  with  the  thoughts 
that  occupied  them  at  that  time.     I'he  two  poems,  which 
are  closely  connected,  and  which  Giacomino  himself  claimed 
as  his  property  by  introducing  his  name  at  the  end  of  the 
second,  have  a  special  interest  by  reason  of  their  subject- 
matter  :  they  treat  "  I)e  Jerusalem  celesti  "  and  "  De  Babi- 
lonia  civitate  infernali,"  that  is  of  Paradise  and  Hell.     The 
religious  poetry  is  didactic,  its  narrative  aims  at  teaching 
and  improving  mankind.     These  poets  stand  in  contrast  to 
their  contemporaries  the  Jon^/eurs,  the  frivolous  and  worldly 
minstrels  who  recite  the  tales  of  chivalry.     In  the  same  way 
as  these,  they  address  themselves  to  the  people,  and  are  as  it 
were  spiritual  minstrels,  but  their  purpose  is  not  merely  to 
satisfy  the  curiosity  of  the  masses,  but  to  lay  the  foundations 
of  a  permanent  gain.     Their  words  are  intended  to  appeal 
to  the  soul,  to  move  it  and  to  lead  it  towards  the  path  of 
salvation.     "This,"  says  Barsegapb,  **is  no  such  fable,  as 
you  listen  to  in  the  winter,  comfortably  seated  by  the  fire ; 
but  if  you  understand  the  discourse  well,  it  will  give  you 
much  to  think  over.     If  you  are  not  harder  than  stones,  you 
will  have  great  fear  through  it."   And  Fra  Giacomino  :  "  But 
that  you  may  not  be  calmed  in  your  hearts,  know  that  this 
is  no  fable  or  story  oi  jongleurs  \    Giacomino  of  Verona,  of 
the   order  of  the  Minorites,  has   compiled   it   from  text, 
glossaries  and  sermons."    But  this  purpose  of  moral  correc- 
tion cannot  be  attained  with  more  complete  success  than  by 
bringing  before  the  imagination  the  condition  of  a  future 
existence,  that  of  the  righteous  in  Paradise,  with  the  purpose 


RELIGIOUS  AND   MORAL   POETRY   IN    N.   ITALY    1 29 

of  urging  men  to  the  practice  of  virtue  by  the  attraction  of 
such  great  bliss,  that  of  the  wicked  in  the  tortures  of  Hell,  in 
order  to  draw  men    away  from  vice   through   the   instru- 
mentality of  fear.     By  four  thoughts,  says  Barsegap^,  can 
man  redeem  himself,  by  the  thought  of  death,  of  the  Re- 
surrection, of  Paradise,  and  of  Hell,  and  it  is  in  this  sense 
that  Fra  Giacomino  describes  the  two  realms  of  the  other 
world.     His  colours  he  has  of  course  to  borrow  from  this 
earthly  existence,  which  supplies  the  people  with  their  ideas 
of  joy  and  torment  in   the  next  life.     The  description  of 
Paradise  therefore  contains  notions  taken  from  the  poetry  of 
chivalry,  with  its  brilliant  ideals  of  happiness  and  glory ;  the 
blessed  form  the  court  of  the  Queen  of  Heaven,  who  crowns 
them  with  flowers  and  gives  them  beautiful  steeds  and  a 
white  banner,  so  that  they  stand  forever  before  her  throne, 
singing  her  praise.    In  Hell,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find  vulgar 
reality  of  every-day  life.     The  sinners  are  put  on  a  spit  by 
Beelzebub,  covered  with  salt,  vinegar,  poison,  and  gall,  and 
roasted  like  a  "  beautiful  pig ;  "  then  the  roast  is  carried  to 
Lucifer,  but  he  finds  that  it  is  not  yet  done  and  sends  it 
back   to  the  infernal   kitchen  (v.    117,  sgq.).      These   are 
humorous   traits   of  a  coarse  simplicity;    the  satirical  and 
comic  element,  the  bitter  scoffing  at  the  sinner  who  has  been 
overtaken  by  the  punishment  he  merits,  occurs  in  the  early 
Middle  Ages  in  the  descriptions  of  Hell,  and  we  find  it 
agam  in  Dante.     A  more  plastic  conception  of  the  sojourn 
of  the  blessed  and  damned  souls  is  lacking  in  this  poem ; 
still,  Giacomino  is  of  one  of  the  numerous  precursors  of  the 
"  Divina  Commedia."     To  him  probably  belong  also  five 
poems,  which  follow  the  two  others  in  the  Venetian  MS., 
one  on  the  love  of  Christ,  one  on  the  Last  Judgment,  in 
which  the  soul  exhorts  its  body  to  virtue  and  obedience, 
one  on  the  frailty  of  human  life,  and  finally  a  song  in  praise 
of  the  Madonna,  and  a  series  of  prayers  addressed  to  her 
and  to  the  Holy  Trinity.     In  the  poem  on  the  Virgin  Mary 
we  have  again  some  reminiscences  of  chivalry.     The  poet 
calls  himself  the  vassal  of  the  Virgin  ;  her  alone  he  will  extol 
m  his  verses,  not  women  of  this  earth,  as  other  poets  do. 
And  this  image  of  the  feudal  conditions,  to  which  men  had 
grown  accustomed  from  the  lyric  court  poetry,  thus  trans- 
ferred to  the  religious  feelings  inspired  by  Mary,  occurs  again 

^-  K 


«^ 


130      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

in  a  recently  published  poem  in  the  form  of  the  Serventese, 
which  altogether  shows  great  similarity,  both  in  language  and 
ideas,  to  the  five  poems  we  have  just  discussed,  and  is  there- 
fore probably  by  the  same  author. 

I'Va  Bonvesin  da  Riva,  of  Milan,  belonged  to  the  third 
order  of  the  "  Humiliati,"  that  of  the  laymen,  so  that  he  was 
twice  married,    lie  was  a  man  of  means,  and  appears  to  have 
held  an  honoural)le  position,  enjoying  a  great  reputation  for 
piety  and  munificence.     'I'he  chronicles  allude  to  him  in  the 
years  1288  and  r29i,  and  a  document  in  1290  ;  and  in  1304 
and  1 3 1  3  he  made  his  will,  l)eing,  on  the  second  occasion, 
already  old  and  decrepit.     He  had  attained  a  considerable 
degree  of  culture,  and  is  called  mai-ister  in  the  copies  of  his 
testament.     A  gravestone  that  used  to  exist  in  the  convent 
of  the  Minorites  in  Milan,  whose  antiquity,  it  is  true,  is  not 
vouched  for,  called  him  doclor  in  ^rammatica,  and  he  com 
posed   several   l^itin  works,  a  "Chronicon  de   Magnalibus 
Urbis  Mediolanensis,"  which  Galvaneiis  Flamma  introduced 
into  his  "  Manii)ulus   Florum,"  and  a  treatise  '*pe  di.scipu- 
lorum  preceptorumfjue  moribus  seu  Vita  Scolastica,"  written 
partly  in  prose  and  partly  in  distichs,  which  has  been  fre 
(luently  printed.      His  Italian  poems  are  more  regular  in 
appearance,    they  arc  composed   in  stanzas   of  four   lines 
rhyming  together,  the  verses  being  those  long  ones  with  a 
strong  CcXsura  which  are  now  called  *'  Martelliani."     This 
measure  was  at  that  time  very  usual  for  popular  poetry ;  we 
found  it  in  the  "  Rosa  fresca,"  and  Barsegape  and  Giaconriino 
employed  it  together  with  other  shorter  verses.     Uguccione 
da  Lodi  wrote  the  first  part  of  his  work  in  these  long  lines, 
which  he  binds  together  in  mono-rhyming  laisses^  according 
to  the  French  manner  ;  the  rest  are  verses  of  eight  syllables, 
rhyming  in  pairs.     The  themes  treated  by  Bonvesin  show 
great  variety,  and  their  tendency  is  everywhere  the  same  as 
with  the  other  religious  poets.     He  begins  a  description  of 
the  Last  Judgment  with  the  words  :    "  These  are  terrible 
words,  which    have  great  worth  ;    through  them  everyone 
should  be  moved  to  great  fear,  to  bewail  his  sins  and  to  be 
in  great  terror,  and  then  to  do  the  work  which  may  be  pleas- 
ing to  the  Creator." 

Queste  en  parolle  terribele,  ke  portan  grand  valor, 
Donde  se  devrave  comraove  zascun  a  grand  temor, 


RELIGIOUS   AND    MORAL   POETRY   IN    N.    ITALY    131 

A  planze  li  soi  peccai   e  star  in  grand  tremor, 
E  far  quel  'ovra  apresso  ke  plaza  al  creator. 

In  another  passage  the  soul  addresses  its  body,  and  ad- 
monishes it  by  describing  the  torments  of  hell,  or  it  visits 
the  body  after  death — in  the  case  of  the  good  spirit,  in  order 
to  praise  it ;  in  the  case  of  the  bad  spirit  in  order  to  upbraid 
it,  and  to  accuse  it  of  having  been  the  cause  of  the  tortures. 
These  are  the  dialogues  between  the  body  and  the  soul, 
which  appear  in  all  the  literature  of  those  times,  and  the 
most  famous  of  which,  the  "Visio  Fulberti,"or  *'  Philiberti  " 
probably  inspired  many  of  those  in  th^  vulgar  tongues. 
Colloquies  or  disputes  between  body  and^oul  were  described 
also  by  Uguccione,  Barsegape,  and  Giacomino.  The  dia- 
logue is  altogether  a  favourite  form  of  poetry,  which  was 
specially  popular  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  which  was  em- 
ployed both  with  serious  and  humorous  intentions.  We 
found  it  in  the  contrasto  of  the  "  Rosa  fresca,"  in  the 
"(iemma  leziosa,"  in  the  Bolognese  ballad  tenzoni^  and 
in  other  poems  of  a  popular  character.  In  I^tin,  there  is  a 
dispute  between  the  flax  and  the  sheep  ("  Conflictus  Ovis  et 
Lini "),  by  Hermannus  Contractus  (who  lived  in  the  eleventh 
century),  with  a  moral  tendency,  and  a  "  Disputatio  Mundi 
et  Religionis,"  which  is  ascetic  in  purpose,  whereas  the 
"Conflictus  Veris  et  Hiemis,"  and  the  "  Contentio  Aquae  et 
Vini,"  were  intended  only  to  amuse.  Several  of  Bonvesin's 
dialogues  recall  the  Latin  ones ;  thus  he  confers  the  power 
of  speech  on  animals  and  plants,  in  the  manner  of  the  fables 
and  of  the  **  Conflictus  Ovis  et  Lini,"  and  lets  the  modest 
violet  dispute  with  the  proud  rose,  and  the  industrious  ant 
with  the  frivolous  fly,  in  order  to  deduce  therefrom  maxims  for 
a  God-fearing  life.  In  another  poem  Satan  disputes  with  the 
Holy  Virgin,  who  deprives  him  of  penitent  sinners  and  leads 
them  back  to  God,  and  the  devil  there  already  shows  that 
he  is  the  logician  he  prides  himself  on  being  in  Dante ;  he 
brings  strong  arguments  to  bear  against  the  Madonna,  who 
is  forced  to  seek  the  aid  of  the  entire  theological  wisdom, 
and  then  finally  can  be  said  to  have  held  her  own  only  from 
a  believer's  standpoint.  The  sinner  also  disputes  with  Mary, 
and  manages  to  convince  her  that  she  must  lend  him  her 
good  services ;  for  it  is  due  to  him,  after  all,  that  she  has 
become  the  mother  of  God,  who  would  not  have  descended 


132      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

to  earth  but  for  the  sinfulness  of  mankind — this  being  an 
argument  that  was  often  repeated  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
longest  of  these  contrasti  is  the  "  Treatise  of  the  Months  " 
('*  Trattato  dei  Mesi "),  which  again  may  be  compared  to  the 
**  Conflictus  Veris  et  Hiemis  " ;  for  in  the  one  the  seasons 
are  introduced  discoursing,  and  in  the  other  the  months. 
The  months  follow  one  another,  reproach  January  with  its 
sloth  and  other  sins,  and  extol  themselves  for  their  own  good 
qualities  and  for  the  benefits  they  confer.  January  is,  there- 
fore, to  be  their  King  no  longer,  as  he  does  not  deserve  this 
rank.  Thereupon  they  seize  their  arms  and  set  on  him  ;  but 
he  rises  from  the  fire  with  a  huge  club.  This  latter,  together 
with  a  speech  full  of  wisdom  which  he  delivers  to  them,  and 
which  occupies  forty-six  stanzas,  bring  his  rebellious  subjects 
back  to  a  state  of  obedience.  Here  a  humorous  impression 
is  intended,  but  the  piece  ends  with  the  moral  that  one  must 
not  undertake  great  things,  if  one  does  not  know  how  to 
carry  them  out.  Nor  are  the  speeches  of  January  and  the 
other  months  lacking  in  moral  precepts. 

With  Bonvesin,  in  general,  moralising  and  preaching  occupy 
a  large  space ;  he  is  often  too  diffuse,  and  when  he  can  in- 
struct, he  is  not  particular,  giving  us  everything  without  dis- 
tinction, even  what  is  repugnant,  as  in  one  passage  of  the 
poem  on  alms  (v.  257,  sqq,\  where  he  depicts  the  disgusting 
sights  of  hospitals.  But  at  times  the  faith  that  fires  his 
imagination  inspires  him  to  a  description  or  to  an  image  of 
unexpected  poetic  energy.  Thus,  where  he  says  of  the 
damned,  in  the  account  of  the  Last  Judgment  (v.  77,  sqq.)\ 
"  Then  they  shall  see  the  devils  on  the  left  hand,  with  whom 
they  shall  dwell  for  ever  in  the  glowing  fire ;  their  glowing 
conscience  they  will  have  within  their  hearts,  and  without, 
on  all  sides,  the  glowing  world";  or,  farther  on,  when  he 
describes  the  terrible  scenes  between  the  damned  father  and 
son,  who  mutually  reproach  and  curse  each  other,  and  tear 
each  other  to  pieces  like  mad  dogs,  because  they  were  once 
united  in  sin  (v.  185,  sqq). 

But  it  is  the  narration  of  tales,  of  course,  that  Bonvesin's 
talent  shows  itself  at  its  best ;  these  appealed  most  closely  to 
the  popular  taste,  and  are  effective  on  account  of  the  beUev- 
ing  simplicity  with  which  they  are  told.  Bonvesin  is  wont 
to  tack  on  to  his  religious  and  moral  precepts  marvellous 


RELIGIOUS   AND   MORAL   POETRY  IN    N.   ITALY    1 33 

tales  or  parables,  by  w^ay  of  example.     Sometimes  his  source 

is  the  Bible,  as  in  the  long  poem  on  Job,  or  he  recites  the 

old  legends  of  Saint  Mary  .^gyptiaca,  or  of  Saint  Alexis ; 

some  of  them  are  also  pious  tales,  which  belong  to  the  late 

Middle  Ages,  and  bring  the  spirit  of  the  time  vividly  before 

us — thus,  in  the  poem  on  alms,  the  story  of  a  knight,  into 

whose  service  the  devil  has  entered  in  order  to  work  his  fall. 

But  he  is  saved  through  the  generous  gifts  he  distributes 

among  the  poor,  and  a  pious  bishop,  who  has  come  into  the 

knight's  house,  lays  bare  the  trickery  of  the  evil  one.     On 

going  to  bed,  he  asks  the  servant,  looking  up  at  the  moon, 

in  what  phase  it  was,  and  he  carelessly  replies :  "  In  the 

same  phase  as  on  the  day  of  the  Creation."     "  And  how  do 

you  know  that?"  asks  the  bishop.     "  Because  I  too,  was 

present  on  that  day."     Then  the  bishop  plainly  saw  with 

whom  he  had  to  deal  (v.  610,  sqq.).     The  songs  in  praise  of 

Mary  contain  the  tale  of  a  monk,  whom  the  Virgin  protects 

against  robbers.     These  are  lying  in  wait  for  him,  but,  as  he 

comes  along  the  road,  they  see  a  marvellous  lady  sitting  on 

his  horse  at  his  side,  occupied  in  gathering,  in  a  white  cloth, 

the  roses  that  fall  from  the  monk's  mouth.     The  marvellous 

lady  was  the  Madonna,  and  the  roses  Ave  Marias  which  the 

holy  man  was  reciting  (v.  41 7,  sqq).    This  is  somewhat  spoilt 

for  us  by  the  grotesqueness  of  the  image,  which,  however,  was 

not  felt  by  the  author's  contemporaries.  Purer,  however,  is  the 

breath  of  poetry  exhaled  from  the  story  of  "  Brother  Ave 

Maria  "  (v.  47  3,  sqq).  A  knight  enters  a  cloister,  in  order  to  do 

penance  for  a  life  of  sin,  and  it  is  found  impossible  to  make 

his  hard  old  brain  remember  anything  beyond  \}^^  Ave  Maria; 

but  this  serves  him  for  all  prayers,  and  it  is  always  on  his 

Hps.    When  he  at  length  died,  and  was  buried,  a  miraculous 

flower  springs  up  from  his  grave,  which  bears  on  each  of  its 

leaves,' in  gold  letters,  the  legend  Ave  Maria,  and  when  they 

seek  the  root  of  the  plant,  they  find  it  wound  round  the  dead 

man's  heart : 

Fo  del  so  monumento  una  planta  gh'  e  nadha  ; 
Sover  zascuna  folia  de  quella  planta  ornadha 
Scrigio  era  Ave  Maria  con  letera  sordoradha. 
Con  letere  d'oro  in  le  foje  scrigio  era  Aye  Maria ; 
Li  frai  del  monestil  corren  a  tuta  via, 
Viden  tal  meraveja  k'  illoga  era  paria  ; 
Vezudho  han  kel  so  monego  zeva  per  bona  via. 


134      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Con  grand  devotion  la  planta  fi  cavadha  ; 

Cercan  la  soa  radix,  dond  ella  po  esse  nadha  : 
Incerco  lo  cor  del  monego  trovan  k'  ella  e  invojadha, 
Dal  cor  fo  per  la  boca  la  planta  ghe  fo  trovadha. 

Of  course,  Bonvesin  did  not  invent  these  stories  either. 
For  all  of  them  the  sources  or  older  versions  of  the  same 
theme  will,  in  due  course,  be  found ;  in  the  case  of  the 
finest  of  them,  the  one  last  quoted,  they  are  well  known. 
But  this  does  not  take  away  from  the  value  of  Bonvesin's 
simple  narrative,  the  full  merit  of  which,  indeed,  does  not 
come  out  till  we  compare  it  with  these  other  versions. 

In  Bonvesin's  works,  we  find,  together  with  the  religious 
and  moral  poetry,  some  more  practical  pieces,  dealing  with 
life  on  earth  :  he  gives  not  only  precepts  for  pious  living  and 
for  the  attainment  of  bliss  in  the  next  world,  but  also 
directions  for  fit  conduct  in  this.  To  this  category  belongs, 
in  part,  the  treatise  of  the  months,  but,  in  a  greater  degree, 
another  poem,  that  deals  with  the  fifty  rules  of  conduct  at 
table,  "  De  quinquaginta  curialitatibus  ad  mensam."  This 
contains  minute  regulations  as  to  how  one  has  to  conduct 
oneself  in  company  at  meals,  how  one  is  to  sit,  to  be  decent 
and  clean,  to  eat  and  drink,  to  hand  to  one's  neighbour  the 
drinking  cup  that  was  intended  for  general  use,  and  the  like. 
At  times  the  admonitions  are  very  strange,  and  afford  us  a 
glimpse  into  the  conditions  of  social  intercourse  at  that 
time.  Similar  to  this  is  an  anonymous  didactic  poem,  also 
written  in  the  dialect  of  Northern  Italy,  in  which  a  friend 
is  instructed  in  the  rules  of  morality  and  decent  conduct, 
with  special  reference  again  to  behaviour  at  table.  How- 
ever, it  is  not  certain  whether  this  poem,  which  is  preserved 
in  a  Vatican  MS.,  belongs  to  this  period. 

Here  we  have,  therefore,  the  beginnings  of  a  secular 
didactic  poetry,  dealing  with  the  actual  world ;  and  as  the 
real  representative  of  this  school  we  may  regard  another 
poet,  only  a  few  of  whose  works  have  as  yet  been  published, 
namely  the  Cremonese,  Girardo  Patechio,  or,  as  he  called 
himself  in  dialectic  form,  Girard  Pateg\  Patechio  appears 
to  be  the  earliest  of  all  the  poets  of  Northern  Italy  known 
to  us.  For  the  chronicler  Salimbene,  who  was  born  in 
122 1,  tells  of  a  practical  joke  once  played  by  his  (Salim- 
bene's)  uncle  on  Master  Patecchus  of  Cremona  ;  so  that 


RELIGIOUS  AND   MORAL  POETRY   IN    N.    ITALY    1 35 

this  probably  took  place  before  1250.    The  same  Salimbene, 
under  the  year  1259,  records  a  poem  of  Patechio— "  De 
Tsediis  "—and  in  various  passages  in  his  chronicle  he  in- 
cidentally introduced  verses  from  it,  which  show  that   it 
belonged  to  the  class  of  poetry  which  the  Provencals  called 
enueg,  and  was  therefore  an  enumeration  of  all  the  things 
that  were  disagreeable  and  objectionable  to  the  poet,  as 
opposed  to  the  genre  called  plazer,  which  was  employed  by 
Guittone.     Salimbene  says  of  himself  that  he  had  composed 
an  imitation  of  Patechio's  "  De  Taediis."     This  has  been 
lost  •  but  we  have  imitations  belonging  to  a  later  period  in  a 
sonnet  of  Bindo  Bonichi,  and  in  a  chapter  of  Pucci,  which 
testify  to  the  influence  exercised  by  this  old  poem  in  dialect 
on  the  literary  development  of  future  generations  and  in  the 
midst  of  Tuscany.     The  enueg,  as  was  already  the  case  with 
the  Provencals,  inclined  towards  satire  and  then  assumed 
didactic  tendencies,  inasmuch  as  it  dealt  with  the  general 
relations  of  mankind  and  society,  whilst  the  poet,  in  express- 
ing his  indignation,  at  the  same  time  criticised  and  censured 
the  prevailing  morals.     To  this  class  belonged  Patechio  s 
poem,  to  judge  from  the  fragments  that  have  been  preserved. 
A   further  characteristic  product   of  this  popular  didactic 
tendency  is  the  same  writer's  "  Splanamento  de  li  proverbi 
de  Salamone,"  in  long  clumsy  verses ;  here  the  author,  as 
he  says  at  the  beginning,  desires,  by  translation  into  the 
vulgar  tongue,  to  make  Solomon's  wise  maxims  generally 
accessible,  not  for  the  clever  and  cultured,  who   do  not 
require  such  a  version,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  masses. 

An  anonymous  Venetian  is  the  author  of  a  poem  m  one 
hundred  and  eighty-nine  stanzas  of  four  long  verses  joined 
together  by  the  same  rhyme,  which  treats  one  of  the  favourite 
themes  of  medieval  didactic  and  satirical  poetry.  It  inveighs 
against  women,  and  contains  a  long  enumeration  of  their 
intrigues  and  vices ;  this  description  being  rendered  more 
effective  by  examples  taken  not  only  from  antiquity  but 
selected  likewise  from  events  that  were  almost  contemporary, 
as  also  by  the  use  of  similes  that  refer  principally  to  the 
peculiarities  of  animals.  Here  and  there  we  find  passages 
taken  from  a  short  Old  French  poem  on  the  same  subject  the 
"  Chastiemusart."  The  writer's  aim  appears  to  have  been 
very  serious  ;  he  does  not  jest,  but  earnestly  exhorts  men  to 


136      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

guard  against  wicked  men,  and  repeatedly  declares  that  no 
fear  would  ever  keep  him  from  uttering  the  truth  for  the 
benefit  of  his  neighbour. 

A  collection  of  early  Genoese  poems  belongs  partly  to  the 
end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  partly  to  the  beginning  of 
the  fourteenth.     One  author  is  probably  responsible  for  the 
entire  series,  in  which  the  Italian  pieces  are  interspersed 
with   Latin  ones ;  the  collection  has  the  appearance  of  a 
kind  of  poetical  diary  that  was  gradually  compiled,  in  which 
the  writer  incorporated  his  compositions  and  observations 
as  the  occasion  gave  birth  to  them,  and  this  accounts  for 
the  fact  that  prayers,  legends,  moralisings,  political  poems, 
maxims,  proverbs,  and  jests  are  here  mingled  indiscriminately. 
In  one  place  we  read  an  invocation  to  the  Virgin  or  to 
Saint  Stephen,  a  marriage  blessing,  a  diffuse  paraphrase  of 
the  Decalogue  or  the  life  of  Saint  Catherine,  and  elsewhere 
directions  for  the  choice  of  a  wife,  rules  of  health,  warning 
against  law-suits,  words  of  censure  against  the  painting  of 
women,  attacks  on  wicked  priests,  who  preach  and  do  not 
practise,  reflections  on  the  pernicious  results  of  the  party 
struggles  between  the  Guelphs  and  the  Ghibellines,  which 
were  causing  the  ruin  of  the  city  of  Genoa.     Some  of  the 
short  interspersed  pieces  {motti)  may  have   been    maxims 
which  were  on  everyone's  lips,  and  which  the  author  adopted 
with  certain  modifications;  this  is  probable  from  the  cir- 
cumstance, that  the  vulgar  jest  concerning  the  evil  results  of 
the  eating  of  chestnuts  (No.  8)  occurs  again  in  the  collec- 
tion with  slight  variations  (No.  103),  and  in  the  same  way 
another  saying  (No.   %'^)  with  greater  changes  (No.  135). 
The  form  employed  is  mostly  the  verse  of  nine  syllables, 
but  not  infrequently  also  that  of  eight  syllables,  rhyming  in 
pairs  or  crosswise. 

The  Genoese  poet  displays  strong  municipal  patriotism  ; 
the  praise  of  his  native  city  forms  the  subject  of  several  long 
poems,  in  which  he  describes  to  a  friend  the  power  and 
wealth  of  Genoa  in  the  most  glowing  colours.  With  this  is 
combined  an  ardent  hatred  of  her  rival  Venice,  with  which 
city  continual  warfare  was  waged.  In  two  poems  (Nos.  47 
and  49)  he  celebrates  the  great  victories  of  the  Genoese  fleet 
at  Lajazzo  and  Curzola  (in  1294  and  1298).  These  are 
exact  descriptions  of  the  events  in  bald  historic  narrative, 


RELIGIOUS  AND   MORAL   POETRY  IN   N.   ITALY    1 37 

which  are,  however,  animated  by  the  feeling  of  patriotic 
pride,  that  fills  the  whole  :  "  Oh  !  what  a  mighty  attack,"  he 
exclaims  (Nos.  49,  317),  "with  seventy-seven  ships,  which 
are  worthy  to  be  gilded,  to  conquer  nearly  a  hundred 
galleys ! " 

De,  che  grande  envagimento, 
Con  setanta  e  seti  legni, 
Chi  esser  dorai  som  degni, 
Venze  gare  provo  de  cento  ! 

The  latest  of  the  dated  political  poems  (85)  refers  to  the 
arrival  of  the  Emperor  Henry  VII.  in  Lombardy  in  the 
year  131 1.  It  expresses  the  same  feelings  as  the  famous 
words  of  Dante,  Cino  and  Dino  Compagni.  The  new 
Emperor  is  the  saving  light,  which  God  has  caused  to  rise 
over  the  stormy  ocean  of  this  world ;  he  descends,  the 
bearer  of  peace,  and  the  cities  yield  to  him,  seeing  his  good- 
ness and  his  impartiality. 

Here,  and  in  many  other  passages,  we  recognise  the 
citizen  of  the  maritime  republic  by  his  predilection  for 
taking  his  examples  and  images  from  ships  and  from  the 
sea.  The  ill-guarded  ship,  whose  crew  thoughtlessly  abandon 
themselves  to  rest  and  diversion,  is  surprised  and  captured 
by  the  lurking  foe ;  in  the  same  way,  we,  traversing  the  sea 
of  life,  must  be  on  our  guard,  lest  we  fall  a  prey  to  the  Evil 
One.  Here  the  three  principal  sins  that  threaten  us  are 
given  as  Pride,  Avarice,  and  Lust,  corresponding  to  the 
lion,  wolf,  and  leopard  of  the  "  Divine  Comedy  "  (39).  The 
dark  dungeon  into  which  the  crew  of  the  conquered  vessel 
are  thrown  by  their  enemies  serves  as  an  image  for  hell  and 
its  torments  (54),  in  the  enumeration  of  which  it  is  to  be 
noted  how  they  are  here  made  to  coincide  with  the  nature 
of  the  sins  themselves.  There  is  cold  and  frost  for  those 
who  were  cold  in  their  love  for  God ;  darkness  and  vapours 
for  those  who  did  not  follow  the  divine  light,  but  kept  to 
the  obscure  and  confused  paths  of  sensuality ;  and  the 
terrible  sight  of  the  devils  for  those  that  looked  with  such 
longing  on  the  vanities  of  the  world.  Of  course,  as  will  be 
seen,  this  attempt  at  a  deeper  conception  of  the  penalties 
of  hell  is  yet  far  from  being  a  complete  success. 


VII 


RELIGIOUS    LYRICAL    POETRY    IN    UMBRIA 

IN  Northern  Italy  the  religious  poetry  is  principally 
narrative  and  didactic ;  whereas  the  lyrical  character 
predominates  in  Umbria,  the  real  centre  of  the  great  religious 
movement  in  Italy  in  the  thirteenth  century,  the  home  of 
S.  Francis,  whose  efforts  contributed  so  largely  towards 
inducing  men  to  become  absorbed  in  the  spiritual  life. 
Francis,  the  son  of  a  merchant  called  Pietro  Bernardone, 
was  born  in  Assisi  in  the  year  1 182.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
five,  after  a  dangerous  illness,  he  turned  away  from  the 
joyous  and  worldly  life  that  he  had  led  till  then.  In  mystic 
dreams  he  thought  he  was  called  to  accomplish  a  great 
mission.  He  sought  solitude  and  lost  himself  in  ecstatic 
prayers ;  then  he  gave  up  all  earthly  ties,  left  his  father's 
house,  lived  on  alms,  and  imposed  severe  privations  on 
himself.  Companions  of  the  same  mind  as  himself  soon 
gathered  round  him,  and  thus  the  order  of  the  Franciscans 
was  formed,  whose  principal  rule  was  the  poverty  of  one 
and  all,  a  life  entirely  occupied  with  sacrifice  and  pure  love. 
But  Francis's  asceticism  does  not  take  the  form  of  a  gloomy 
abjuration  of  all  that  is  beautiful  in  the  world ;  he  sees  in 
Nature  not  evil,  but  the  glorious  work  of  God,  and  as  such 
he  sings  her  praises  and  loves  her  with  childlike  tenderness. 
In  his  simplicity  and  humility,  the  saint  felt  that  he  was 
closely  united  to  all  cr-eatures,  even  to  inanimate  objects, 
and  called  them  all  his  brothers  and  sisters,  because  they, 
like  man,  had  been  created  by  God.  He  addressed  them 
as  intelligent  beings,  and  exhorted  them  to  love  and  grati- 
tude towards  Him,  who  had  made  them  so  fair  and  so 
useful.  This  poetic  instinct,  which  filled  his  life  and 
thoughts,  inspired  him  once  to  the  famous  Hymn  to  the 
Sun.     In  it  the  saint  sings  in  praise  of  God,  while  celebrat- 


RELIGIOUS   LYRICAL   POETRY   IN   UMBRIA      1 39 

ing  his  works,  and,  in  his  usual  manner,  he  calls  the  sun 
his  brother,  the  wind  his  brother,  the  water  and  the  earth 
his  sister,  as  also  bodily  death  which  no  living  man  can 
escape.  And  from  mankind  he  singles  out  for  the  glory  of 
God  those  that  pardon  for  His  sake,  and  that  patiently 
endure  sorrow  and  pain ;  they  are  blessed,  for  they  shall  be 
crowned.  The  author  is  said  to  have  given  the  name  of 
"  Hymn  to  the  Sun  "  to  the  poem,  because  the  sun  is  more 
beautiful  than  the  other  things  created,  and  because  it 
could,  beyond  all  others,  be  compared  to  the  Highest 
himself.  In  this  sense  the  series  of  those  beings  opens, 
whose  praise  is  sung  : 

Laudatu  sii,  mi  signore,  con  tulle  le  tue  creature, 

Specialmente  miser  lu  frate  sole, 

Lu  quale  jorna,  e  allumini  noi  per  lui  ; 

Et  illu  e  bellu  e  radiante  cun  grande  splendore, 

De  te,  altissimu,  porta  significatione. 

It  has  been  disputed  whether  these  extremely  simple 
utterances  of  a  glowing  passion  are  really  verses,  or  per- 
chance prose ;  but  the  old  assonances  are  even  now,  in  the 
present  text,  clearly  perceptible,  and  so  the  attempts  to 
divide  the  poem  up  into  separate  rhyming  verses  must  be 
approved.  What  degree  of  regularity  the  structure  of  these 
verses  originally  attained,  it  is  now  difficult  to  determine ; 
for  the  readings  of  the  text  as  we  now  have  them  are  all 
modernised,  as  is  proved,  among  other  things,  by  the  fact 
that  the  dialectical  elements  are  far  too  scarce  for  a  work  of 
that  period.  This  defective  condition  of  the  text  is  all  the 
more  to  be  deplored,  in  that  the  hymn  to  the  sun  is  one  of 
the  oldest  monuments  of  the  vulgar  tongue;  for  Francis 
died  in  the  year  1226. 

According  to  an  account  in  the  "Speculum  Vitae  B. 
Francisci  et  Sociorum  ejus,"  which  is  trustworthy,  though 
belonging  to  a  later  time.  Saint  Francis  composed  his  poem 
two  years  before  his  death,  after  a  night  of  dire  temptation, 
and  after  a  revelation  had  assured  him  that  he  would  attain 
the  realms  of  bliss.  He  himself  set  it  to  music,  and  taught 
it  to  his  companions,  in  order  that  they  might  sing  it.  He 
also  had  the  idea  of  sending  some  of  the  brethren  forth  with 
Fra  Pacifico,  so  that  they  might  go  through  the  world, 
preaching  and  singing  the  praise  of  the  Lord,  "like  minstrels 


I40      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

of  the  Lord."  And,  after  finishing  the  song  of  praise,  they 
were  to  say  to  the  people  :  "  We  are  minstrels  of  the  Lord, 
and  therefore  we  desire  to  have  reward  from  you,  namely, 
that  you  should  yield  yourself  to  true  repentance."  Of  this 
brother  Pacificus,  who  was  to  be  at  the  head  of  this  religious 
and  poetical  mission,  we  are  told  that,  before  departing  from 
the  life  on  earth,  he  was  called  *'  Rex  versuum,"  on  account 
of  his  poetical  gifts,  and  that  he  was  solemnly  crowned  by 
the  Emperor.  No  doubt  he  also  employed  his  talents  in 
the  Order  for  the  new  and  holy  purpose ;  but  it  is  impos- 
sible to  say  whether  he  wrote  in  Latin  or  in  Italian,  as  none 
of  his  pieces  have  been  preserved.  Others  among  the 
oldest  members  of  the  Order  wrote  in  Latin.  Tommaso  da 
Celano,  who  narrated  the  story  of  Francis's  life  a  few  years 
after  the  saint's  death,  is  the  author  of  the  famous  "  Dies 
irae,  dies  ilia  "  ;  while  several  exquisite  poems,  as,  for  example, 
the  "  Ave  coeleste  lilium,"  are  attributed  to  St.  Bonaventura, 
though  it  is  true  that  the  authorship  is  doubtful,  as  is  so 
often  the  case  with  the  Latin  hymns. 

The  order  of  the  mendicant  friars  of  the  Franciscans  was 
in  every  respect  in  touch  with  the  people.  It  did  not  with- 
draw itself  into  the  solitude  of  the  cloister,  but  mingled  with 
the  daily  life  of  the  people,  according  to  the  intention  of  its 
founder,  in  order  to  advise,  help,  and  console  them  in  their 
sorrows;  especially  intimate  and  lasting  were  its  relations 
with  the  lower  classes.  And  the  enormous  influence  which 
it  soon  began  to  exercise  in  all  parts  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
it  supplied  an  urgent  spiritual  need  at  that  period.  The 
period  of  greater  worldliness,  such  as  the  twelfth  century 
had  been,  was  followed,  in  the  thirteenth,  by  a  renewed  and 
stronger  revival  of  religious  feeling.  This  movement  was 
rooted  in  the  people  and  went  on  independently  of  the 
existing  ecclesiastical  organisation ;  partly,  indeed,  it  was 
directed  against  it.  The  very  heresies  which  multiplied  and 
were  adopted  by  so  numerous  and  zealous  a  following, 
originated  in  this  strenuous  need  of  faith.  The  general  cor- 
ruption of  the  clergy  aroused  the  desire  for  a  reform  of  the 
Church  and  for  a  return  to  its  original  state  of  purity,  and 
this  desire  w^as  met  by  the  two  newly-founded  orders  of  the 
Franciscans  and  Dominicans,  that  is  to  say,  when  they  were 
first   instituted  and   before   they   themselves   degenerated. 


RELIGIOUS   LYRICAL    POETRY   IN    UMBRIA      I4I 

Although  they  were  true  to  the  Pope  and  to  Catholicism, 
they  were  opposed  to  the  Benedictines  and  to  the  powerful 
and  wealthy  secular  clergy,  and  desired  the  restoration  of 
primitive  Christianity  through  poverty,  active  charity,  and  an 
unpretending  and  sincere  form  of  divine  worship.     The  real 
or  pretended  prophecies  of  the  Abbot  Joachim,  who  had,  at 
the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  lived  in  the  monastery  of 
Fiore  in  Calabria,  made  a  deep  impression  and  for  a  long 
time  found  numerous  believers.     After  the  era  of  the  Father, 
who  had  operated  through  patriarchs  and  prophets,  and  after 
that  of  the  Son,  whose  agents  were  apostles  and  apostolic 
men,  the  third  era  was  now  to  come,  that  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  whose  work  was  to  be  accomplished  by  the  monks ; 
and   the   fulfilment    of   this   prophecy   was   now   awaited. 
Francis  appeared  to  be  the  image  of  Christ  himself,  and 
the  earliest  among  his  companions  resembled  the  Apostles ; 
purified  human  nature,  in  their  persons,  again  approached 
the  nature  of  God  and  worked  many  miracles,  the  truth  of 
which  was  not  doubted,  and  the  greatest  of  the  miracles  was, 
as  it  had  been  in  the  case  of  the  diffusion  of  Christianity,  the 
rapidity  with  which  these  new  orders  grew  and  spread  and 
everywhere  left  marked  traces  of  their  activity.     The  mendi- 
cant friars  wandered  about  in  the  cities  and  in  the  country, 
preaching  with  holy  zeal  and   rousing   the   masses ;    they 
exhorted  men  to  peace  and  to  true  penitence  for  the  requital 
of  their  sins.    The  importance  of  Francis's  institution  was  in- 
creased by  the  foundation  of  the  lay  order  of  the  Tertians, 
into  which  hundreds  of  thousands  entered,  as  it  enabled 
them  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  monastic  rule,  without  losing 
their  civil  status  and  in  spite  of  their  being  married.     It 
appeared  to  be  a  religious  association  that  was  destined  to 
embrace  the  entire  human  race.     The  attempt  was  made  to 
found  other  mendicant  orders,  which  chiefly  imitated  the 
Franciscans  and  partly  aimed  at  surpassing  them  in  moral 
discipline,  but  these  did  not  receive  the  sanction  of  the  Pope. 
This  spiritual  exaltation  did  not,  it  is  true,  always  remain  in 
the  same  acute  condition.    Several  times  it  reached  a  height  at 
which  it  became  fanaticism  ;  but  then  it  again  diminished  in 
strength,  without,  however,  disappearing  altogether.     In  the 
year  1233,  the  time  of  the  so-called  Alleluja,  there  was,  in 
the  whole  of  Italy,  a  revival  of  this  religious  exaltation.     Old 


142      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

and  young,  high  and  low,  passed  through  the  streets  of  the 
towns  singing  pious  songs.  The  countryfolk,  men,  women, 
and  children,  streamed  into  the  cities,  in  order  to  hear  the 
sermons  that  were  preached  daily,  in  the  morning,  at  noon, 
and  in  the  evening;  the  conversions  and  entries  into  the 
order  were  of  frequent  occurrence.  In  Bologna  and  else- 
where in  Lombardy  the  Dominican  Giovanni  of  Vicenza 
preached  at  that  time  with  great  success.  The  masses 
followed  him  in  procession,  barefooted,  with  crosses  and 
flags,  whilst  their  women  laid  aside  their  ornaments.  He 
was  the  means  of  bringing  about  peace  between  the  rival 
families  and  communes,  and  the  statutes  of  the  cities  were 
handed  over  to  him,  so  that  he  might  reform  them  according 
to  his  judgment ;  for  a  time  the  government  of  Verona  and 
Vicenza  was  in  his  hands.  Even  laymen  usurped  the  office 
that  belonged  by  rights  to  the  clergy,  and  undertook  to  show 
the  people  the  right  path  on  their  own  account  when  the 
priests  began  relaxing  their  efforts.  One  of  these  was  the 
Benedictus  of  Umbria  or  the  Roman  province,  called /rater 
de  cornetta,  of  whom  Salimbene  tells  how  he,  in  the  year  of 
the  Alleluja,  preached  in  the  streets  and  churches  of  Parma. 
He  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  appearance,  with  a  long 
black  beard  and  attired  in  a  black  garment  that  reached 
down  to  his  feet,  on  the  front  and  back  of  which  a  large 
cross  was  worked  in  red ;  in  his  hand  he  held  a  metal 
trumpet.  He  was  followed  by  a  number  of  boys,  often 
carrying  branches  and  burning  candles.  He  began  his 
words  of  praise  by  saying  in  the  vulgar  tongue  :  "  Laudato 
et  benedetto  et  glorificato  sia  lo  Patre,"  and  this  was  repeated 
by  the  boys  in  a  loud  voice.  Then  he  spoke  again  the  same 
words,  adding,  "sia  lo  Fijo,"  and  the  boys  did  likewise. 
After  a  third  repetition  he  added,  "  sia  lo  Spirito  Sancto," 
and  then,  "  Alleluja,  alleluja,  alleluja."  Thereupon  he  blew 
his  trumpet  and  preached,  closing  with  Latin  verses  in  praise 
of  the  Virgin. 

A  movement  similar  to  that  of  the  year  of  the  Alleluja, 
but  more  lasting  in  its  effects,  and  more  direct  in  its  influence 
on  literature,  made  itself  felt  in  Italy  in  the  year  1 260.  This 
was  the  movement  of  ihe  Jlagellantt\  which,  again,  originated 
in  the  mountains  of  Umbria.  The  times  were  sad  and 
stormy,  and  the  people  were  oppressed  by  the  schism  be- 


RELIGIOUS   LYRICAL  POETRY   IN   UMBRIA      I43 

tween  the  secular  and  spiritual  powers,  by  the  party  struggles 
of  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines,  by  war,  violence,  disease, 
and  famine.     Thereupon,  in  the  year  1258,  an  old  hermit 
named  Raniero  Fasani  appeared  in  Perugia;  he  declared 
that  he  had  been  sent  from  heaven  in  order  to  announce 
mysterious  and  terrible  punishments  which  threatened  the 
sinful  world.     Clad  in  a  sack,  girt  with  a  cord,  and  carrying 
a  scourge  in  his  hand,  he  passed  through  the  streets  and 
squares  of  the  town,  exhorting   men   to  penance   and   to 
flagellation.     Soon  a  numerous  band  formed  round  him,  who 
called  themselves  the  Disciplinati  di  Gesu  Crista.     Clad  in 
sacks  like  their  leader,  often  almost  naked,  these  people,  of 
every  age  and  condition,  went  about  and,  while  they  scourged 
themselves,  shed  tears  and  blood  in  profusion  ;  they  invoked 
divine  mercy  in  their  hymns.     From  the  district  of  Perugia 
these  processions  extended  to  the  neighbouring  provinces ; 
and  thus   this    mania  of  flagellation    spread  to  the  other 
parts  of  the  country,  to  Rome  and  to  Northern  Italy,  like  a 
holy  conflagration,  or,  as  Salimbene  says,  with  the  rapidity 
of  an  eagle  swooping  down  on  its  prey.     Everywhere  the 
mournful  chants  of  the  penitents  were  heard.     Whoever  did 
not  do  penance  and  scourge  himself,  observes  the  chronicler, 
was  considered  to  be  more  wicked  than  the  devil,  and  all 
pointed  at  him  with  their  fingers.     And  again  conversions  of 
stubborn  sinners  took  place,  peace  was  made,  unjustly  ac- 
quired property  was  restored,  and  men  who  had  been  mortal 
enemies  embraced  and  begged  each  other  for  forgiveness. 
All  this  was  regarded  as  the  beginning  of  the  third  era  of  the 
world,  the  one  under  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which 
was,  according  to  Joachim's  prophecy,  to  commence  in  that 
very   year,   1260.     Of  course,  men  were  soon  disabused: 
war  and  confusion,  hatred  and  vice  did  not  disappear  from 
the  world.     But  even  after  the  great  enthusiasm  had  passed 
away,  the  societies  of  thefiagellanti  or  Disciplinati,  which  had 
been  formed  in  every  part  of  Italy,  remained,  and  the  literary 
genre  which  had  been  created  by  this  movement— that  of  the 
laude  spirituali,  or  sacred  songs  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  also 
continued  to  exist. 

The  Lauda  is,  according  to  D'Ancona's  excellent  de- 
finition, the  popular  sacred  song,  as  opposed  to  the  Latin 
church  hymn  which  was  no  longer  intelligible  to  the  people  ; 


144      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

and  even  though  it  may  have  been  in  existence  before,  for 
which,  however,  there  is  no  testimony,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  it  owes  its  rise  in  importance  and  its  sudden  fruitfulness 
to  the  formation  of  the  fraternities  of  disciplinati  we  have 
been  discussing.  It  was  through  the  instrumentahty  of  these 
societies,  which  drew  their  members  by  preference  from  the 
less  cultured  classes,  that  the  religious  poem  definitely  came 
to  be  written  in  Italian  instead  of  I^tin— a  plan  that  Francis 
had  been  the  first  to  adopt.  The  collections  of  Umbrian 
laude  which  have  come  down  to  us  were  not  written  down 
till  the  fourteenth  century ;  but  among  the  poems  contained 
in  them  many  are  earlier  than  this,  and  some  of  them  may 
still  belong  to  those  that  were  sung  during  the  processions 
organised  by  the  hermit  Fasani.  Monaci  assumed  that  this 
was  the  case  with  several  of  them,  which  seem  to  bear  in  a 
special  degree  the  stamp  of  simple  and  original  poetry,  as, 
for  example,  the  following  verses  that  refer  to  the  cross  which 
was  borne  before  the  troops  of  penitents  like  a  standard  : 

Or  esguardate,  crudei  peccatore, 

Co  dura  morte  fe  Christo  per  noie. 
Che  lo  suo  corpo  si  fo  forte  frustato, 

De  corona  de  spine  si  fo  encoronato  ; 

Come  um  mal  notno  si  era  menato, 

Ciascun  gridava  :  muoia  el  ladrone. 
E  noie  taupine  non  cie  volem  pensare, 

Como  per  noie  se  laso  flagellare, 

Su  nella  croce  con  gran  chiuove  chiavare, 

Fuoro  spuntate  per  piii  gran  dolore.  .   .  .  ' 

The  names  of  the  oldest  laudesi  are  forgotten  ;  their  pro- 
ductions became  common  property,  like  the  popular  songs. 
Only  one  of  them  is  well  known  to  us— a  man,  who  has,  to 
a  certain  extent,  become  the  representative  of  the  whole 
genre,  so  that  the  poems  of  others  were  not  rarely  attributed 
to  him.    This  is  Jacopone  da  Todi.    His  own  life  is  a  legend. 

^  Now  look,  hard-hearted  sinner,  what  a  cniel  death  Christ  endured 
for  us.  For  his  body  was  scourged  with  violence,  with  the  crown  of 
thorns  he  was  crowned.  Like  a  criminal  he  was  led  along,  and  each 
one  cried  out,  "  Let  the  robber  die."  And  we  wretches  do  not  wish  to 
think  of  that,  how  he  let  himself  be  scourged  for  our  sake,  and  nailed 
up  on  the  cross  with  large  nails— they  were  blunted  in  order  to  cause 
more  pain.  .   .  . 


RELIGIOUS   LYRICAL   POETRY   IN    UMBRIA      I45 

He  came  from  the  family  of  the  Benedetti,  in  Todi,  studied 
law,  became  an  advocate,  married,  and  led  a  happy  life  in 
his  native  town,  surrounded  by  wealth  and  pleasures.  Then 
it  happened,  about  the  year  1268,  that,  at  a  wedding  feast, 
in  the  midst  of  the  joyful  dancing,  the  floor  gave  way,  and 
his  beautiful  young  wife,  alone  of  all  the  guests,  was  fatally 
injured  by  the  fall.  He  lifted  her  up  as  a  corpse,  and,  when 
she  was  undressed,  a  hair-cloth  was  found  underneath  the 
costly  robes  that  she  had  donned  for  her  husband's  sake. 
At  sight  of  this  the  gay  lawyer  was  touched  to  the  heart,  and  a 
sudden  revulsion  of  feeling  took  place  within  him.  He  sold 
all  his  property  and  gave  the  proceeds  to  the  poor.  He 
gave  up  his  former  occupations,  and  avoided  his  friends  and 
relatives ;  he  visited  the  churches  in  a  coarse  hermit's  garb, 
and  spent  his  days  in  fervently  praying  and  in  scourging  him- 
self. He  was  considered  to  be  mad,  and  in  his  exaggerated 
penance  he  really  did  things  that  justified  such  a  view.  He 
wished  to  appear  vile  and  despicable  in  the  eyes  of  all,  and 
to  induce  men  to  scorn  and  insult  him,  in  order,  by  patient 
suffering,  to  become  more  worthy  in  the  sight  of  God.  Thus 
he  once  came  among  the  people  at  a  feast,  crawling  on  all 
fours,  with  a  saddle  on  his  shoulder  and  a  bridle  in  his 
mouth,  like  a  beast  of  burden.  On  another  occasion  he 
appeared  at  a  wedding  in  his  brother's  house,  after  rubbing 
his  body  in  with  turpentine  and  rolling  himself  in  the  feathers 
of  a  bed.  It  was  not  till  after  ten  years  of  penance  that  he 
tried  to  enter  the  order  of  the  Franciscans.  At  first  they 
hesitated,  as  to  whether  the  mad  Jacopone  should  be  ad- 
mitted. Then  he  is  said  to  have  written  the  poem — "Or 
udite  nova  pazzia,"  which  at  once  procured  him  admission ; 
however,  he  remained  all  his  life  in  the  humble  position  of 
a  lay-brother.  Among  the  Franciscans  a  strife  was  going  on  at 
that  time  between  two  parties,  into  which  the  order  had  been 
split  up  soon  after  the  death  of  its  founder.  The  one,  that 
of  the  Conventualists,  desired  the  severity  of  the  discipline 
to  be  mitigated,  which,  as  Innocent  III.  had  already  said, 
was  made  for  angels,  not  for  men  ;  the  other,  that  of  the 
Spiritualists,  wished  it  to  be  maintained  in  all  its  rigour. 
Jacopone,  of  course,  sided  with  the  latter.  The  good  Pope 
Celestine  V.  had  taken  these  under  his  protection,  but 
Boniface  VIII.,  from  political  motives,  declared  himself  for 

I.  L 


(« 


146     HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

the  Conventualists.  Since  that  time,  Jacopone  was  his 
bitter  foe.  He  took  part  in  the  rebelHon  of  the  two  deposed 
cardinals,  Jacopoand  Pietro  Colonna,  who,  on  May  10,  1297, 
formed  a  union  with  their  adherents  in  Longhezza,  declared 
Celestine's  abdication  and  the  choice  of  Boniface  to  be 
invalid,  and  appealed  to  a  Council.  Boniface  preached  a 
crusade  against  them,  and  besieged  them  in  Palestrina,  into 
which  town  Jacopone  had  also  retired.  He  brought  to 
bear  against  the  Pope  the  weapons  that  were  at  his  disposal, 
hurling  at  him  a  violent  poetical  invective : 

O  papa  Bonifazio, 
Molto  hai  giocato  al  mondo, 
Penso,  che  giocondo 
Non  ten  potrai  partire.^ 

But  after  the  capture  of  Palestrina  (in  September,  1298), 
Boniface  took  a  terrible  revenge  on  the  monk,  who  was 
condemned  to  life-long  imprisonment,  thrown  into  a  putrid 
underground  dungeon,  and  weighed  down  with  chains. 
Jacopone  rejoiced  at  his  wretched  condition,  and  thanked 
God  for  the  pain  and  anguish  he  had  brought  on  him.  The 
excommunication  alone  bowed  him  down  and  forced  him  to 
submission ;  he  addressed  to  the  Pope  humble  poems,  en- 
treating him  to  pardon  him,  and  to  leave  him  all  his  corporal 
punishments — yea,  to  double  them,  but  to  release  his  soul 
from  the  ban  of  excommunication.  But  Boniface  remained 
obdurate,  and  it  was  not  till  after  his  death,  in  1303,  that  the 
gentle  Bendedict  XL  freed  him  from  the  ban,  and  set  him 
at  liberty.  He  lived  another  three  years,  and  died  on  De- 
cember 25,  1306,  in  the  convent  of  the  Franciscans  at 
Collazzone.  Popular  belief  assigns  to  him  a  place  among  the 
blessed,  but  it  is  not  known  whether  he  was  ever  canonised. 
In  the  year  1596,  Bishop  Angelo  Cesi  had  a  monument 
erected  to  him  in  the  cloister  of  St.  Fortunato  at  Todi,  where 
he  hes  buried,  with  the  fine  inscription :  "Ossa  Beati  Jacoponi 
de  Benedictis  Tudertini  Fratris  Ordinis  Minorum,  qui  stultus 
propter  Christum,  nova  mundum  artedelusit  et  coelum  rapuit." 

Fra  Jacopone  is  the  true  type  of  the  Christian  ascetic  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  in  his  voluntary  humiliation  and  renuncia- 

^  O  Pope  Boniface,  thou  hast  played  much  in  the  world ;  I  think 
that  thou  wilt  not  be  able  to  leave  it  happily. 


RELIGIOUS   LYRICAL   POETRY   IN    UMBRIA      I47 

tion.  He  despises  all  the  goods  and  joys  of  the  world,  dis- 
dains philosophy  and  theology,  Plato  and  Aristotle,  whom 
he  formerly  venerated.  Moreover,  his  own  personality  and 
honour — to  which  man  clings  to  the  last — are  no  longer  of 
any  account  with  him,  and  he  rejoices  at  the  outrages  that 
are  heaped  on  him  :  "  My  good  name  I  commend  to  the 
ass,  that  brays ;  may  he  who  insults  me  have  more  than  a 
year's  remission  of  punishment  for  sins  " : 

Fama  mia,  ti  raccomanno 
Al  somier  che  va  raghianno  ; 
Perdonanza  piu  d'un  anno 
Chi  mi  dice  villania. 

These  are  his  words  in  the  lauda  with  which  he  bade  fare- 
well to  the  vanities  of  the  earth  ("Udite  nova  pazzia"),  and 
this  expression  of  the  greatest  self-abnegation  was  so  much 
in  harmony  with  his  feelings,  that  he  repeated  it  twice  in 
other  poems.  He  cannot  satiate  himself  with  his  penance, 
he  would  wish  to  suffer  for  his  sins,  even  as  Christ  had 
suffered,  though  unjustly.  He  prays  God  to  send  him  all 
conceivable  evils,  and  takes  a  pleasure  in  enumerating  the 
various  diseases:  "O  Lord,  by  thy  grace,  send  illness  unto 
me.  To  me  the  quartain  fever,  and  the  continuous  and 
tertian  fever,  and  that  occurring  twice  daily,  with  the  great 
dropsy.  May  toothache  come  to  me,  and  headache,  and 
pains  in  the  belly,  in  my  stomach  piercing  agony,  and  quinsy 
in  the  throat "  : 

O  signer,  per  cortesia, 

Mandami  la  malsania. 
A  me  la  freve  quartana, 

La  continua  e  la  terzana, 

La  doppia  cottidiana, 

Colla  grande  idropesia. 
A  me  venga  mal  de  dente, 

Mai  de  capo  e  mal  de  ventre, 

A  lo  stomaco  dolor  pungente 

E'n  canna  la  squimanzia.  .  .  . 

"  For  the  love  of  Christ,"  he  is  reported  to  have  said,  "  I, 
with  the  greatest  equanimity,  wish  to  endure  in  this  life  all 
the  troubles,  pains,  tribulations,  burdens,  and  agonies  that 
may  be  expressed  in  words,  or  even  such  as  can  only  be 
imagined.    And  that  would  not  suffice  for  me.    But  I  would 


148      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

wish,  besides,  that,  as  soon  as  I  shall  have  departed  from 
this  life,  the  devils  should  seize  my  soul  and  bear  it  down  to 
hell  so  that  I  might  there  satisfy  Divine  justice,  by  suffering 
all  the  penalties  that  are  owing  both  for  my  own  sins  and 
those  of  the  souls  in  Purgatory,  and  also,  if  possible,  for 
those  of  the  eternally  damned.  Moreover,  I  would,  for  the 
love  of  Christ,  endure  all  the  torments  for  the  very  devils, 
and  would  be  ready  to  remain  in  hell  till  the  day  of  the  I^st 
Judgment  and  longer  still,  as  the  Divine  will  might  decree. 
But,  in  addition  to  all  this,  it  would  be  very  pleasing,  and 
the  greatest  joy  to  me,  if  all  those,  for  whom  I  should  suffer 
all  these  things  were  to  be  admitted  into  Heaven  before  me, 
and  if  they  were  to  say  to  me,  after  I,  too,  had  at  length 
been  received,  that  they  owed  me  no  thanks  whatever  for 
the  torments  that  I  had  endured  for  them."  Tradition  may 
here  have  exaggerated ;  but  still,  these  words,  at  all  events, 
give  us  the  same  impression  as  that  left  by  Jacopone's  own 
words  on  posterity,  and  they  are,  in  their  essence,  filled  with 
the  same  spirit  that  we  find  in  his  poems. 

It  is  a  dallying  with  the  ideas  of  pain  and  humiliation  that 
borders  on  insanity,  a  lust  of  suffering,  as  it  were,  and  in 
his  love  he  is  no  less  ardent  and  immoderate.  The  mystic 
and  spiritual  love  for  God  appears  with  Jacopone  in  the 
warmest  colours  of  earthly  affection — it  is  a  veritable  delirium, 
an  intoxication  of  passion  : 

Ciascimo  amante  che  ama  il  Signore 

Venga  alia  danza  cantando  d'  amore. 
Venga  alia  danza  tutto  innamorato, 

Disiando  quelle  che  gia  1'  ha  create  ; 

Di  amor  ardendo  il  cor  tutto  infocato 

Sia  trasformato — di  grande  fervore. 
Infervorato  dell'  ardente  foco 

Come  impazzito,  che  non  trova  loco, 

Cristo  abbracciando  no  1'  abbracci  poco, 

Ma  in  questo  gioco — se  gli  strutjga  il  core. 
Lo  cor  si  strugge  come  al  foco  il  ghiaccio, 

Quando  col  mio  Signor  dentro  m'  abbraccio  ; 

Gridando  Amor,  d'  amor  si  mi  disfaccio, 

Con  r  Amor  giaccio — com'  ebrio  d'  amore.  ^ 


RELIGIOUS   LYRICAL  POETRY   IN   UMBRIA      1 49 

In  the  song,  "  Amor  di  caritate,"  which  used  to  be  wrongly 
attributed  to  St.  Francis,  the  soul  says  to  Christ : 

Amore,  dolce  languire, 
Amor  mio  desioso, 
Amor  mio  delettoso, 
Annegami  in  amore.  ^ 

His  ecstasy  rises  so  high,  that  it  is  no  longer  capable  of 
words,  and  vents  itself  instead  in  repeated  exclamations,  in 
such  a  way  that  the  cry  of  Amore  is  repeated  incessantly 
throughout  six  stanzas.  At  the  same  time  the  influence  of 
the  court  poetry  in  the  Proven9al  manner  is  here  plainly 
apparent.  In  the  piece  just  quoted,  the  poet  laments  the 
excessive  ardour  that  consumes  him ;  he  feels  pain  where  he 
seeks  for  joy  ;  he  dies  in  bliss  and  lives  without  heart : 

Ch'io  moro  in  dilettanza 
E  vivo  senza  core, 

verses  which  might  occur  equally  well  in  the  canzone  of  a 
Sicilian.  Love's  flame  rends  his  heart  as  with  a  knife,  and 
through  it  he  loses  his  reason.  He  embraces  Christ  and 
implores  his  love,  languishes  and  laments ;  his  spiritual 
passion  is  even  expressed  in  the  playful  antitheses  of  the 
devinalh  : 

Seppi  parlare,  ora  son  fatto  muto  ; 
Vedeva,  e  mo  son  cieco  diventato. 
SI  grande  abisso  non  fu  mai  veduto  ; 
Tacendo  parlo  ;  fuggo  e  son  ligato  ; 
Scendendo  salgo,  tengo  e  son  tenuto  ; 
Di  for  so  e  dentro,  caccio  e  son  cacciato.^ 


*  Let  every  lover,  who  loves  the  Lord,  come  to  the  dance,  singing  of 
love.  Let  him  come  to  the  dance  quite  enamoured,  longing  for  him  by 
whom  he  was  created.     Burning  with  love  and  all  in  flames,  let  the 


heart  be  transformed,  with  great  ardour.  Glowing  with  the  burning 
fire,  like  a  madman,  that  cannot  contain  himself,  embracing  Christ,  let 
him  embrace  him  not  a  little,  but  may  his  whole  heart  melt  in  this  act. 
The  heart  melts  as  ice  in  the  fire,  when  I  embrace  my  Lord  in  my 
soul ;  crying  out  Love,  by  love  I  am  thus  undone  ;  with  love  I  sink  down, 
as  though  drunken  with  love. 

1  O  Love,  sweet  languishing,  O  Love,  longed  for  by  me,  O  Love,  full 

of  delights,  drown  me  in  love.  ,      ,      t  j 

2  I  knew  how  to  speak,  now  I  have  become  dumb;  I  saw  and  now 
I  have  become  blind.  So  great  an  abyss  has  never  been  seen.  In 
silence  1  speak  ;  I  flee  and  am  bound;  descending  I  climb  up,  1  hold 
and  am  held  ;  without  I  am  and  within  ;  I  pursue  and  am  pursued. 


I 


flp^ 


I 


ISO      HISTORY    OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

The  most  usual  form  of  the  Italian  lauda  was  from  the 
beginning,  and  always  remained  so  long  as  the  genre  was 
cultivated,  that  of  the  haliata  or  dance-poem;  Jacopone  calls 
several  of  his  poems  merely  bailata.  This  may  be  sur- 
prising, and  appear  almost  as  a  profanation,  but  it  was  never 
felt  as  such.  A  popular  form  of  poetry  was  required,  and 
no  other  was  available  save  that  of  the  bailata.  This  was, 
owing  to  its  divisions,  especially  suitable  for  sacred  singing 
on  the  part  of  the  masses ;  the  solo  voice  could  sing  the 
stanza,  and  the  chorus  the  ripresa^  as  in  the  dance.  Nor 
must  it  be  forgotten  that  the  conception  of  the  praise  of 
God  as  a  spiritual  dance  was  ancient  and  traditional,  and 
that  it  frequently  occurs  in  the  works  of  the  laudesi^  as,  for 
example,  in  the  poem  of  Jacopone  quoted  above.  Mysticism 
represents  our  position  with  respect  to  the  world  beyoud 
under  the  image  of  sensuality,  and  these  passionate  utter- 
ances of  a  glowing  sentiment  are  in  harmony  with  a  form 
which  usually  served  to  express  worldly  joy  and  pain. 

Jacopone  was  endowed  from  his  early  years  with  no  mean 
degree  of  culture.  He  wrote  also  in  Latin,  and  several  of 
the  finest  sacred  poems  in  this  language  are  attributed  to 
him  (though,  here  again,  the  authorship  has  been  disputed), 
among  others,  the  "  Stabat  Mater  Dolorosa,"  and  the  hymn 
expressing  contempt  of  the  world  : 

Cur  mundus  militat  sub  vana  gloria, 
Cujus  prosperitas  est  transitoria. 

But  generally  he  employed  the  vulgar  tongue  like  the  other 
laudesi — the  Umbrian  dialect,  whose  traces  only  the  more 
recent  editors  of  his  poems  have  for  the  greater  part 
obliterated.  He  despised  learning,  and  wished  to  speak  to 
the  people,  and  to  the  poor.  He  was  in  reality,  as 
D'Ancona  remarked,  one  of  those  popular  minstrels  of  the 
Lord,  that  St.  Francis  desired  to  see  among  his  disciples. 
To  the  people  he  owes  the  best  part  of  his  inspiration.  He 
knows  how  to  depict,  with  tenderness  and  child-like 
simplicity,  the  scene  of  the  birth  of  Christ ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  master  of  powerful  images  and  kindling 
words,  when  describing  the  terrors  of  the  Last  Judgment : 

Udii  una  voce,  che  pur  qui  mi  chiama  : 
Surgete,  morti,  venite  al  giudizio. 


RELIGIOUS   LYRICAL   POETRY   IN    UMBRIA      151 

Qual  e  la  voce,  che  fa  risentire 

Tutte  le  genti  per  ogni  contrata? 

Surgete,  genti,  venite  ad  udire 

La  gran  sentenza  che  de'  esser  data  ; 

Or  e'l  tempo  che  dessi  sceverire, 

Chi  deve  gire — in  gloria  o  in  supplizio.   .  .  . 
Non  trovo  loco  dove  mi  nasconda, 

Monte  ne  piano  ne  grotto  o  foresta, 

Che  la  veduta  di  Dio  mi  circonda, 

In  ogni  loco  paura  mi  presta. 

Or  mi  conviene  davanti  a  lui  gire 

E  riferire — lo  mio  malefizio  .  .  .^ 

In  this,  "  la  veduta  di  Dio  mi  circonda,"  he  approaches 
the  sublimity  of  Holy  Writ.     In  another  passage,  depict- 
ing the  Last  Judgment  and  its  signs,  he  adopts  the  actual 
form  employed  by  the  minstrels,  that  of  the  serventese,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  formulae  that  were  usual  with  the  popular 
reciters,  such  as  the  invocation,  "  Al  nome  d'  Iddio  santo 
omnipotente  "...  the   address  to  the  public,   "  Vogliovi 
raccontar   lo    convenente   Che   dice   la  Scnttura  che   non 
mente  "  and  the  close,  "  Or  avemo  finita  questa  istoria.     O 
alto  Dio,  condunne  a  quella  gloria."  ...  But  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  terrible  natural  phenomena  that  will  precede  the 
Judgment,  his  manner  rises  to  true  grandeur  : 

Tutti  li  monti  staranno  abbassati 
E  r  aire  strette  e  i  venti  conturbati, 
E'  1  mare  mugira  da  tutti  i  lati, 
Con  r  aquc  lor  staran  fermi  adunati 

I  fiumi  ad  aspettare. 
Allora  udrai  dal  ciel  trombe  sonare, 
E  tutti  morti  vedrai  suscitare, 
Avanti  al  tribunal  di  Cristo  andare, 
E'  1  foco  ardente  per  1'  aria  volare 
Con  gran  velocitate.^ 


»  I  heard  a  voice,  that  is  always  calling  me  here  :  Rise  up,  ye 
dead,  come  to  judgment."  WTiat  voice  is  it  that  awakens  all  people 
in  every  region  ?  Rise  up,  ye  people,  come  to  hear  the  great  sentence 
that's  \o  be  passed  ;  now  is  theHime  when  shall  be  separated  who  is  o 
eo  o  glory  and  who  to  punishment  ...  I  find  no  place  wherem  to 
hide  myself,  neither  mountain  nor  plain,  neither  caverri  nor  wood  ;  for 
the  sight  of  God  surrounds  me  and  fills  me  with  dread  in  every  place. 
Now  I  am  forced  to  come  before  him,  and  to  admit  my  misdeeds. 

2  All  the  mountains  will  be  levelled,  and  the  air  thick  and  the  winds 
disturbed,  and  the  sea  will  roar  on  all  sides  ;  with  their  umted  waters 


152      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Jacopone's  satirical  poems  are  also  frequently  exceedingly 
effective.     In  these  he  lends  his  voice  to  express  the  general 
indignation,  and  becomes  the  organ  of  the  feeling  spread 
among  the  people,  whether   he  is  attacking   Boniface,  or 
directing  his  wrath  against  the  wicked  clergy,  and  making 
the  Church  and  Christ  themselves  lament  the  corruption  of 
the  hierarchy  that  has  taken  the  place  of  the  former  piety  : 
"  Piange  la  Ecclesia,  piange  e  dolura "  (at  the  election  of 
Clement  V.),  and  "  Jesu  Cristo  se  lamenta  De  la  Chiesa 
sua  romana."     Jacopone  also  tried  the  didactic  poetry  that 
was  so  popular  in  those  times.    In  a  long  poem  he  moralises, 
stringing  together  proverbs  and  proverbial  sayings,  employ- 
ing the  same  stanzas  of  four  lines  rhyming  together,  and 
consisting   of  long  verses  with  a  sharp  caesura,  that  were 
used    by   Fra   Giacomino    and    Bonvesin.      For   example 
(stanza  63)  : 

Di  vite  torta  e  piccola  nasce  l'  uva  matura  ; 
Abete  dritto  ed  arduo  senza  frutto  ha  statura  : 
Considera  piu  1'  opera  che  la  grande  figura  ; 
Facera  1'  ape  picciola  e  mele  con  dolzura.  ^ 

Thus  we  find  in  Jacopone  indications  of  a  versatile 
talent,  but  we  must  look  for  them.  They  are  scattered,  and 
not  a  single  poem  is  perfect  throughout.  From  the  heights 
of  true  poetry,  he  quickly  descends  again  to  coarseness  and 
triviality.  With  verses  full  of  energy  are  mingled  languid 
and  prosaic  lines  ;  in  the  midst  of  isolated  magnificent  traits 
are  introduced  long  moralisations,  speculative  in  tone,  which 
weaken  the  effect,  or  he  loses  himself  in  theological  and 
mystical  subtleties  to  the  verge  of  unintelligibility.  His  art 
is  still  in  a  primitive  state  of  development,  and  he  proceeds 
without  tact  or  discrimination  ;  he  did  not,  indeed,  aim  at 
artistic  effects,  but  merely  desired  to  write  in  a  simple 
manner  on  edifying  subjects.     And  for  that  reason  he  does 

the  rivers  will  stand  still  in  expectation.  Then  thou  wilt  hear  trumpets 
sound  from  heaven,  and  shalt  see  all  the  dead  rise  and  go  before  the 
judgment-seat  of  Christ,  and  the  glowing  fire  rushing  through  the  air 
with  great  swiftness. 

^  From  a  small  and  twisted  vine  arises  the  ripe  grape ;  the  straight 
tall  fir-tree  has  size  without  fruit :  consider  rather  the  work,  than  the 
size  of  the  stature ;  the  small  bee  makes  wax  and  sweet  honey. 


RELIGIOUS   LYRICAL   POETRY   IN    UMBRIA      1 53 

not  avoid  even  revolting  themes.  Asceticism  delights  in 
things  that  are  hideous  and  disgusting,  which  serve  as  an 
antidote  to  the  allurements  of  the  sensual  and  beautiful ; 
and  so  the  ascetic  poet  gives  no  heed  to  the  boundaries  of 
good  taste.  Jacopone  describes  illnesses,  and,  in  order  to 
bring  out  forcibly  the  nothingness  of  mankind,  depicts  a 
scene  of  birth,  with  its  unaesthetic  details  and  the  unclean- 
ness  of  the  suckling  child  ("  O  vita  penosa ").  In  the 
dialogue  between  the  living  and  the  dead  man,  "  Quando 
t'  allegri,  uomo  d'  altura,"  he  shows  us  the  corpse  in  its 
fearful  state  of  corruption,  devoured  by  worms,  with  bare 
skull,  empty  sockets,  without  nose,  and  with  its  stench. 
Contemporary  art  likewise  did  not  shrink  from  such  sub- 
jects, and  Ozanam  fitly  compared  Jacopone's  representation 
with  that  of  the  three  corpses  in  the  large  fresco  of  the 
"  Triumph  of  Death  "  in  the  Campo  Safito  of  Pisa. 

The  popular  tendency  towards  the  dialogue  which  we  en- 
countered in  the  religious  and  moral  poetry  of  Northern 
Italy,  is  also  to  be  found  among  the  laudesi  of  Umbria,  and 
here  it  gave  rise  to  the  formation  of  a  new  genre.  To  return 
again  to  Jacopone,  his  works  contain  one  of  the  numerous 
disputes  between  the  soul  and  the  body  of  the  sinner  on  the 
day  of  the  Last  Judgment  ("O  capo  infracidato  "),  and  a 
dialogue  between  a  living  and  a  dead  man,  to  which 
reference  has  just  been  made.  One  poem,  "O  Signor  Cristo 
pietoso,"  describes  a  debate  on  the  sinner  before  God's 
judgment-seat,  with  the  speeches  of  the  devil  and  of  the 
guardian  angel,  where  the  irony  in  the  words  of  the  former 
is  remarkable.  A  poem  that  is  allegorical  and  symbolical  in 
subject  is  partly  in  narrative  and  partly  in  dialogue  form.  It 
treats  of  the  salvation  of  the  sinner.  Mercy  sends  Penitence 
to  his  aid,  but  her  efforts  are  vain :  the  fallen  one  is  not  able 
to  raise  himself  up  again  with  his  own  strength.  Now 
Mercy  prays  on  his  behalf  before  the  throne  of  God.  Justice 
is  opposed  to  this,  as  the  punishment  was  well  merited ;  but 
the  Son  of  God,  filled  with  love  for  the  soul,  satisfies  both 
Justice  and  Mercy  by  taking  upon  himself  the  expiatory 
punishment.  In  another  poem,  Christ  seeks  his  bride,  the 
soul,  which  has  departed  from  him,  and  suffers  for  it  by  re- 
deeming it;  this  is  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  between  Christ, 
the  angels,  and  the  soul.    Biblical  subjects  also  were  treated 


f 


154      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

by  the  poet  in  this  manner — such  as  Christ  in  Emmaus 
among  his  disciples,  or  Christ's  crucifixion,  where  the  Saviour 
himself,  the  Virgin,  and  a  third  person  (probably  John) 
speak,  and  at  the  same  time  also  the  noisy  mob,  which 
clamours  for  the  execution  of  the  sentence.  Now  in  these 
poems,  in  general,  an  innovation  is  to  be  noted,  which 
appears  superficial,  but  was  important  in  its  results.  Fra 
Jacopone  does  not  indicate  the  change  of  speech  in  the 
verses,  as  was  done  by  Bonvesin  and  the  others,  but,  as  a 
rule,  this  change  is  either  not  denoted  at  all,  as  being  clear 
from  the  context,  or  the  names  of  the  interlocutors  are 
placed  over  the  speeches,  outside  the  text.  In  the  recital, 
therefore,  one  had  only  to  let  different  persons  speak,  and 
one  had  the  beginning  of  the  drama,  for  the  completion  of 
which  nothing  was  wanting  save  the  scenic  apparatus.  And 
this  transition  from  the  lauda,  that  was  merely  sung,  to 
theatrical  representation,  was  actually  effected  by  the  fratern- 
ities of  the  Disciplinati^  who  followed  as  their  models  the 
similar  attempts  in  the  Latin  tongue,  which  had  been  in 
existence  for  some  time. 

Scenic  spectacles,  which  had  been  violently  opposed  by 
Christianity  at  the  close  of  the  period  of  antiquity,  had 
nevertheless  soon  recommenced  to  flourish,  and,  what  is 
more,  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church  itself.  Catholic  worship 
already  contained  in  its  solemn  ceremonial  a  number  of 
theatrical  elements.  The  sacrifice  of  the  mass  was  originally 
a  continual  symbolical  suggestion  of  the  actions  and  suffer- 
ing of  Christ.  Subsequently,  in  order  to  make  these  appear 
more  actual,  a  real  representation  of  the  sacred  events  was 
added  on  solemn  days,  especially  at  Easter;  this  was  an 
effective  instrument  wherewith  to  engage  the  imagination 
of  the  spectators  in  the  interests  of  faith.  These  earliest 
liturgical  dramas,  as  they  have  been  called,  were  closely  con- 
nected with  the  Divine  service,  and,  forming  an  integral  part 
thereof,  they  were,  of  course,  composed  in  Latin;  they 
adhered  quite  closely  to  the  text  of  the  Bible,  and,  indeed, 
often  adopted  its  very  phrases.  The  performers  were  the 
clergy,  who,  however,  already  strove  to  make  the  representa- 
tion appear  actual  by  means  of  costumes  and  by  an  indica- 
tion, more  or  less  complete,  of  the  localities.  Later  on  the 
drama  became  more  independent,  and  was,  in  spite  of  the 


RELIGIOUS  LYRICAL  POETRY  IN   UMBRIA      1 55 

sacred  themes,  and  together  with  its  didactic  and  edifying 
aims,  made  a  vehicle  for  entertaining  the  people,  and  for 
satisfying  their  curiosity  and  love  of  spectacle.     For  this 
purpose  a  freer  movement  was  introduced  in  the  dialogue, 
the  number  of  the  personages  was  increased,  the  themes 
were  made  more  varied,  and  finally,  when  the  drama  went 
over  into  the  hands  of  the  laity,  the  vulgar  tongues  were  em- 
ployed in  the  place  of  the  Latin,  in  the  case  of  productions 
which  were  intended  essentially  to  attract  the  people.     In 
this  form  the  mystery-play  appears  in  France  as  early  as  the 
twelfth  century  in  the  "  Adam,"  and  in  the  fragment  of  the 
Resurrection,  and  at  the  same  period  in  Spain,  in  the  "  Mis- 
terio  de  los  tres  Reyes  Magos."    In  Italy,  as  usual,  the  Latin 
offered   a   more   stubborn   resistance   than  elsewhere.     At 
Easter  of  the  year  1244,  the  Passion  and  Resurrection  of 
Christ  was  performed  in  Padua,  in  the  Prato  della  Valle— 
in  the  open  air,  therefore.     The  reports,  it  is  true,  do  not 
say  anything  about  the  language  employed,  but  the  reference 
is  of  such  a  kind  that  we  must  assume  it  to  have  been  Latin. 
The  same  applies  to  the  great  cyclical  performance  that  was 
given  by  priests  on  three  consecutive  days  in  1298  and  1303 
at  Cividale  in  Friuli,  in  the  palace  of  the  Patriarch,  and  the 
subject  of  which  was  the  Creation  of  the  first  man,    the 
Annunciation,  the  Birth  of  Christ,  the  Passion,  and  the 
Resurrection,  the  Ascension  and  the  Descent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  coming  of  the  Anti-Christ,  and  that  of  Christ  for 
the  Last  Judgment.     The  first  representations  in  the  Italian 
language  with  which  we  are  acquainted  are  those  of  the 
Umbriam  laiidesL     We  do  not  know  whether  the  dialogues 
of  Jacopone  were  intended  for  performance ;  but  certainly 
many  others  were,  which  Monaci  found  in  the  collection  of 
Old  Umbrian  laude  by  Disciplinati,  among  the  sacred  poems 
that  were  merely  sung ;  and  these  formed  the  basis  of  his 
important  researches  into  the  origins  of  the  Italian  Drama. 
Here  the  movements  and  actions  accompanying  the  dialogue 
are  expressly  indicated  by  Latin  notes  {didascalia) ;  and  the 
existence  of  a  scenic  apparatus,  though  one  of  a  very  simple 
nature,  is  proved  by  the  inventories  of  the  Confraternita  di 
S.  Domenico  in   Perugia,  which  have  been  published  by 
Monaci.     In  these  are  mentioned,  in  addition  to  numerous 
costumes,  also  nails  from  the  Cross,  the  pillar  to  which  the 


.  i 


156     HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Saviour  was  bound,  and  the  dove  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is 
again  impossible  to  determine  exactly  the  time  at  which  the 
transition  from  the  lauda  that  was  merely  sung,  to  the  lauda 
that  was  represented  on  the  stage,  took  place.  The  collec- 
tions of  the  poems  date  from  the  fourteenth  century,  but  in 
these  we  do  not  possess  the  original  manuscripts,  so  that  we 
shall  not  be  wrong  in  ascribing  many  of  the  pieces  to  the  end 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  as  Monaci  does. 

These  Umbrian  laude  represent  the  theatre  in  a  more 
primitive  stage,  and  resemble  the  liturgical  drama  more 
closely  than,  for  example,  the  French  "  Adam."  The  per- 
formance was  still  held  in  the  church  or  oratory  at  the  time 
of  Divine  service,  and  closely  connected  with  it.  Each  of  the 
representations  is  intended  for  a  particular  festival,  as  is 
shown  by  the  superscriptions,  and  the  subject-matter  is, 
accordingly,  always  adapted  to  one  of  these,  as,  for  example, 
the  Passion,  Christ's  appearance  among  His  Disciples, 
Christ  and  the  believing  Centurion,  and  so  on.  Monaci 
thought  that  the  Latin  liturgical  dramas  might  be  regarded  as 
the  sources  from  which  these  were  adapted  ;  but  D'Ancona 
made  it  appear  more  probable  that  they  had  come  direct 
from  the  texts  of  the  liturgy,  and  that  the  Latin  pieces  in 
general  supplied  only  the  stimulus  and  the  model  for  the 
dramatisation,  but  not  the  actual  subject-matter.  Frequently 
the  dialogue  is  only  a  paraphrase  of  the  words  of  the  Bible. 
Still,  the  longer  ones  do  not  lack  original  additions  and 
extensions,  as,  for  example,  the  "  Laus  pro  nativitate 
domini,"  which,  like  Jacopone's  poem  on  this  subject, 
attracts  by  reason  of  its  simple  tone,  and  shows  a  genuine 
popular  tendency  towards  isolated  traits  of  realism.  Here 
we  see  the  old  Joseph,  who  has  come  with  Mary  to 
Bethlehem,  going  from  door  to  door,  seeking  shelter,  and 
how  he  is  sent  away  by  one  after  the  other,  so  that  they  are 
forced  to  take  refuge  in  a  stable.  When  the  shepherds 
come  to  worship,  Mary,  lamenting  her  poverty,  entreats 
them  for  a  little  cloth  in  which  to  wrap  the  child  ;  these 
excuse  themselves  by  telling  of  the  hurriedness  of  their 
departure  on  learning  the  tidings  of  the  birth  of  the  Saviour, 
and  then  give  her  their  cloaks,  and  beg  of  her  not  to  scorn 
them  with  disgust.  The  greatest  impression  is  again  made 
by  the  representation  of  the  Last  Judgment,  for  the  reason 


I 


RELIGIOUS   LYRICAL   POETRY   IN    UMBRIA      1 5/ 

that  it  produced  the  most  violent  effect  at  that  period  on 
the  minds  of  the  spectators,  who  actually  had  the  terrible 
sight  before  their  eyes,  however  imperfect  the  scenery  might 
be.  The  believing  public  of  the  Middle  Ages  could  not 
fail  to  be  moved  to  their  innermost  souls  when  they  saw  the 
damned  entreating  the  Virgin,  and,  in  their  terror,  clutching 
hold  of  her  garment,  and  when  even  she  did  not  succeed 
in  obtaining  mercy  from  her  Son,  who  spoke  the  terrible 
words  :  "  It  is  time  for  deeds  and  not  for  threats.  Your 
dwelling  shall  be  the  fire,  and  may  this  be  your  abode  of 
rest,  ye  who  loved  the  world  that  causes  pain  "  : 

Tempo  e  da  facte  e  non  da  menaccie  : 
L'  arbergo  vostro  sera  el  fuoco, 
E  quisto  sia  vostro  reposo, 
Ch'  amaste  el  mondo  doloroso. 

The  name  of  these  religious  spectacles  at  first  remained 
the  same  as  that  of  the  genre  which  had  given  rise  to  it — 
namely,  lauda  :  they  were  religious  songs  in  dramatised 
form.  The  metre  is  also  identical,  that  is  to  say,  either  the 
ses/a  rima^  consisting  of  verses  of  eight  or  nine  syllables,  or, 
here  again,  the  more  usual  form  of  the  ballata  with  the 
ripresa^  the  final  rhyme  of  which  is  repeated  in  the  end- 
ings of  all  the  stanzas.  The  latter  arrangement  was  un- 
doubtedly an  inconvenient  impediment  for  the  dialogue  as 
soon  as  this  became  somewhat  extended ;  and  so  the  drama 
soon  got  rid  of  it,  preferring  forms  that  were  more  suitable 
and  more  elastic. 

From  Umbria  the  representations  spread  to  other  parts 
of  Italy,  together  with  the  fraternities  of  the  Disciplinati. 
Their  existence  in  the  South  is  proved  by  Monaci's  dis- 
covery, in  a  fourteenth  century  MS.,  of  a  number  of  such 
laude  in  the  Abbruzese  dialect  of  Aquila.  The  further 
development  of  the  drama  falls  in  a  later  period  :  even  the 
old  divozio7ii^  a  form  that  represents  the  next  stage  of  devel- 
opment after  the  lauda,  belong  to  the  fourteenth  century,  per- 
haps to  the  second  half  of  it.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  the 
genre,  under  the  name  of  rappresentazione,  attained  the  acme 
of  its  fertility.  Only  one  spectacle  has  still  to  be  mentioned 
here,  although,  strictly  speaking,  it  does  not  belong  to  the 
history  of  literature.     Giovanni  Villani  narrates  (viii.   70), 


riaitfilt-iirfiiira-rAtrn-tfiMWiifir"'''""'^^^^ 


IS8      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

that  on  May,  1304,  a  festival  was  instituted  on  boats  by 
the  Ponte  alia  Carraia  in  Florence,  for  the  entertainment  of 
the  people,  on  which  occasion  hell  was  represented  "  with 
flames  and  other  punishments  and  torments,  with  men  who, 
in  the  guise  of  demons,  were  terrible  to  behold,  and  others, 
in  the  shape  of  naked  souls,  who  appeared  to  be  real 
persons,  and  on  these  were  inflicted  various  tortures  with 
very  great  cries,  and  din,  and  shouting,  so  that  it  was  painful 
and  terrible  to  hear  and  to  see."  According  to  Vasari,  this 
was  arranged  by  the  merry  Florentine  painter,  Buffalmacco 
and  his  friends  ;  the  spectacle,  by  the  way,  ended  in  a  tragic 
manner,  for  the  bridge  gave  way  under  the  weight  of  the 
spectators,  and  many  were  drowned.  The  performance  was 
evidently  a  mere  pantomime,  without  any  speaking,  and  there- 
fore not  a  drama.  According  to  the  description  of  Antonio 
Pucci  in  his  "  Centiloquio,"  the  souls  were  even  represented 
merely  by  '*  bellows  filled  with  straw  and  by  ox  bladders  full 
of  wind,"  which  is  indirectly  due  to  Villani's  clumsy  construc- 
tion,^ and  over  each  division  was  written.  In  questo  luogo  son 
puniti  i  tali  ('*  Here  are  punished  so  and  so  ").  But  it  is  to 
be  observed  how  the  well-known  theme,  the  representation 
of  hell,  had  already  become  a  subject  of  popular  entertain- 
ment to  the  Florentines,  who  were  always  scofifingly  inclined, 
though  it  could  not  fail,  at  the  same  time,  to  have  a  more 
serious  effect  on  the  spectators,  as  is  testified  by  Villani  and 
Pucci. 

^  For  although  the  word  uomini  appears  also  to  refer  to  the  souls, 
this  is  not  the  case  :  he  says,  che  pareatio  persone^  and  so  they  could  not 
be  persons. 


VIII 


PROSE    LITERATURE   IN    THE  THIRTEENTH   CENTURY 

AS  with  the  other  nations,  so,  too,  in  Italy  prose  begins 
later  than  poetry.     Of  course  the  use  of  the  vulgar 
tongue  for  business  purposes,  and  for  the  requirements  of 
everyday  life,  is  in  all  probability  much  earlier,  dating  back 
even  farther  than  the  first  attempts  at  poetry  in  the  native 
dialect.    For  such  purposes  Latin  must  have  long  been  in- 
adequate; the  use  of  that  form  of  speech  which  was  on 
everyone's  lips  became  necessary,  or,  at  any  rate,   vulgar 
words  were  mixed  with  the  traditional  Latin  formulae.     The 
grammarian  Boncompagno  says  (between  1215  and  1226): 
"Mercatores  in  suis  epistoHs  verborum  ornatum  non  re- 
quirunt,  quia  fere  omnes  et  singuli  per  idiomata  propria  sen 
vulgaria  vel  per  corruptum  latinum  ad  invicem  sibi  scribunt 
et   rescribunt,   intimando   sua    negocia   et   cunctos   rerum 
eventus."     And  another  grammarian,  Guido  Faba  of  Bo- 
logna,  about   the   year    1229,  gives  in  his  " Epistolario," 
together  with  the  Latin  model  letters,  a  whole  series  also 
of  Italian  ones,   which  are  therefore  probably  the  earliest 
specimens  of  connected  Italian  prose  we  possess.     They 
show  the  marked  influence  of  the  Bolognese  dialect ;  still,  it 
is  not  the  dialect  in  its  pure  form,  but  transformed  already 
for  literary  purposes,  and,  what  is  more  remarkable,  there 
appear  also  to  be  traces  of  the  love-poetry  in  the  Provengal 
manner.     Genuine,  not  merely  forged  writings  of  the  same 
kind,  have  come  down  to  us  also  from  a  somewhat  later 
period.     The  "Ricordi  di  una  famiglia  Senese"  are  a  col- 
lection of  sheets  on  which  are  written  down  the  expenditure 
and  revenue  of  the  house  of  a  certain  Matasala  di  Spinello 
de'  Lambertini,  between  the  years  1231  and  1262,  that  is 
to  say,  a  dry  register  of  sums  of  money  and  objects  that  had 
been  bought  and  sold,  but  still  of  importance  as  a  specimen 


K 


* 


\ 


I-    .*-H'fcSB*,-Jfffe^.,  " 


,  M*as#^at!ite;aEj?e"i^- 


^t'-  ^.*ttBl£«li,Ai^^^ 


l6o      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

of  the  Sienese  dialect  of  the  time.  The  same  value  attaches 
to  the  "  Lettere  volgari  del  Secolo  XIIL,  scritte  da  Senesi," 
a  small  collection  of  private  letters,  commercial  and  partly 
also  political  in  character,  written  by  Sienese  merchants  from 
France  and  to  that  country;  the  first  letter  is  dated  1253, 
but  the  most  important  belong  to  the  years  1 260-1 269,  or 
still  later. 

Writings  of  this  nature  do  not  in  reality  belong  to  the 
history  of  Hterature,  and  they  have  been  mentioned  solely 
with  the  view  of  pointing  out  the  early  existence  of  a  certain 
kind  of  prose,  which  was  nothing  but  the  living  speech 
written  down  in  cases  where  it  was  indispensable.  Its 
actual  literary  use  represents  a  more  advanced  stage,  for 
which  far  more  care  and  a  definite  intention  on  the  part  of 
the  writer  are  necessary.  We  must  therefore  regard  as  the 
earliest  monument  of  literary  prose  the  letters  of  Guittone, 
with  which  we  are  already  acquainted,  and  which  are  in  them- 
selves so  entirely  independent  of  the  poetical  usage ;  the  one 
addressed  to  the  Florentines  was  probably,  as  we  saw,  written 
about  the  year  1260.  To  1268  belongs  the  first  translation 
of  Albertano  da  Brescia,  which  will  be  discussed  further  on, 
and  a  second  one  to  1278  ;  later  are  the  works  of  Giamboni 
and  of  Ristoro  of  Arezzo,  the  "  Conti  di  Antichi  Cavalieri," 
and  the  '*  Novellino."  But  it  would  serve  no  purpose  to 
adhere  exactly  to  the  chronological  order,  which  is  still  far 
too  uncertain,  and  so  we  shall  rather  group  together  the 
monuments  according  to  their  subject-matter  and  literary 
character. 

The  "  Novellino,"  or,  as  the  book  was  entitled  by  its  first 
editor,  the  '*  Cento  Novelle  Antiche,"  mark  the  beginning 
of  a  genre  which  was  destined  to  attain  to  an  extraordinary 
degree  of  fertility  in  Italy  :  it  is  the  oldest  collection  of  tales. 
The  aim  of  the  little  book  was  stated  by  the  author  or  com- 
piler himself  at  the  beginning  :  "As  the  noble  and  high-born 
are,  in  their  words  and  deeds,  as  it  were,  a  mirror  for  the 
lesser  ones,  and  as  their  words  are  more  pleasing  since  they 
come  from  a  more  delicate  instrument,  we  recall  here  some 
flowers  (/>.,  select  examples)  of  words,  of  fair  acts  of 
courtesy  and  of  fair  replies,  and  of  fair  deeds  of  valour,  of  fair 
gifts  and  of  fair  loves,  such  as  were  formerly  achieved  by 
many."    The  collection  contains  a  hundred  tales,  as  appears 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY   PROSE   LITERATURE      161 

from  the  title.     Some  of  them  treat  chivalrous  themes,  and 
tell  of  Tristan  and  Isolde,  of  King  Melidaus,  and  of  the 
Lady  of  Shalott,  who  died  of  love  for  Lancelot ;  in  others 
we  have  stories  of  heroes  and  sages  of  antiquity,  such  as 
Alexander  the  Great,  the  sons  of  Priam,  Thales  of  Miletus, 
Aristotle,   Seneca,  Cato,  and  Trajan— all   these   curiously 
transformed  and  travestied  according  to  the  popular  medieval 
tradition.     There  is  Narcissus  (No.  46),  who  has  become  a 
"good  and  fair  knight,"  while  Pythagoras  is  a  philosopher 
in   Spain,    who   has   compiled   an   astrological   table  (33). 
Socrates  is  a  wise  Roman,  and  replies  to  the  embassy  sent 
by  the  Sultan  from  Greece  (61);  Hercules  traverses  forests 
and  slays  lions  and  bears,  but  is  not  able  to  tame  his  wicked 
wife  (70) ;  Nero  condemns  his  master  Seneca  to  death,  as 
revenge  for  the  beating  he  received  from  him  when  he  was 
•  his  pupil  (71).     Then  we  have  stories  of  biblical  history,  of 
Balaam,  David,  Solomon,  and  Christ  himself;   also  some 
legends,  such  as  that  of  Saint  Paulinus,  who  gave  himself  up 
as  prisoner  for  the  son  of  the  poor  woman,  when  he  could 
not  help  her  in  any  other  way,  and  of  Peter  the  publican, 
who  gave  all  he  had  to  the  poor,  and  had  himself  sold,  so 
that  they  might   have  the  proceeds.      Other  tales,  again, 
narrate  true  or  invented  occurrences  relating  to  historical 
personages  of  quite  recent  times— to  Saladin,   Charles  of 
Anjou,    and    King   Conrad   IV.    in  his   youth,    to    Italian 
magnates  and  princes,  such  as  Jacopino  Rangone,  Paolo 
Traversari,  and  Ezzelino,  and   especially  to   the  Emperor 
Frederick   II.,    whose   powerful   figure  had   made  a  great 
impression  on  the  time,  and  in  whom  the  author  shows  an 
exceptionally  keen  interest.     Then  we  have  persons  who 
are  well  known  to  us   from  Provencal  literature.      Thus, 
Messer  Imberal  del  Balzo,  i.e.,  En  Barral  of  Baux,  Viscount 
of  Marseilles,  the  patron  of  the  troubadours,  who  looks  for 
traces  of  birds,   receives  a   humorous  reply  from  an  old 
woman.    The  poet  Guillem  de  Berguedan,  who  has  offended 
all  the  noble  ladies  of  Provence,  saves  himself  from  their 
vengeance  through  an  ingenious  idea.     Of  the  young  King 
of  England,  the  son  of  Henry  II.,  acts  of  chivalry  and 
generosity  are  narrated,  and  of  Bertran  de  Born,  his  behaviour 
during   captivity  after   the  death  of  the  young  King ;   of 
Richart  de  Barbezieu — in  this  case,  it  is  true,  under  the 

I.  M 


u  , 


'^»^i^/ff«'^mmmaKXMes:m:pvi^smim» 


^mii^,i^^- 


r- 


162      HISTORY   OF    EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

name  of  a  certain  Alamanno  (64)— we  are  told  how  he  lost 
his  lady's  favour,  and  how  he  won  it  again.    There  is  one  in- 
stance of  a  fable  of  animals,  that  of  the  mule,  the  fox,  and  the 
wolf,  where  the  latter  wished  to  read  the  letters  on  the  hoofs 
of  the  former  (94).   For  us,  however,  the  most  interesting  are 
the  tales  which  reflect  contemporary  manners,  the  stories  con- 
cerning the  author's  immediate  surroundings,  such  as  that  of 
Bito  of  Florence,  who  manages  to  get  a  farthing  out  of  the 
miserly  Ser  Frulli  without  his  noticing  it  (96) ;  of  the  man 
who  told  the  endless  tale  (89) ;  of  the  peasant  who  came 
into  the  town  in  order  to  buy  clothes,  and  was  beaten  for 
having  no  money  (95);  of  the  clever  woman,  whose  tart 
was  eaten  by  the  cat,  while  the  mouse  got  away  (92).    They 
are  poor  jokes,  but  they  serve  to  show  how  easily  the  public 
was  satisfied  in  those  days,  and  we  note  in  them  a  tendency 
towards   a   more  vivid  conception  of  reality.     Here,  too, 
we  already  find  the  scandalous  little  stories  of  women  and 
priests,  which  subsequently  became  the  favourite  theme  of 
the  short  tales,     llius,  we  have  Piovano  Porcellino,  who 
caught  the  Bishop  Mangiadore  in  the  act  of  which  the  latter 
wanted  to  accuse  him  (54) ;  the  doctor  of  Toulouse,  who 
married  the  niece  of  the  Archbishop,  but  sent  her  home 
again  after  two  months,  owing  to  an  unexpected  event,  and 
justified  his  action  to  the  furious  uncle  in  a  witty  reply  (49). 
Further,  there  are  the  two  exemplary  father  confessors  (91  and 
93),  and  the  grieving  widow,  who  consoles  herself  with  the 
man  set  to  watch  the  bodyof  a  hanged  criminal,  and  eventually 
fixes  the  corpse  of  her  own  husband  on  the  gallows  (59) — 
that  is,  the  widely-diffused  story  of  the  matron  of  Ephesus. 

This  collection  of  tales  is,  therefore,  a  union  of  all  possible 
elements,  of  the  most  varied  kind.     The  author  probably 
did  not  invent  a  single  one  of  the  stories  himself.     They  are 
either  such  as  were  in  everyone's  mouth  at  the  time,  or  such 
as  he  could  take  from  books,  from  the  Latin  collections  of 
tales  that  were  the  common  property  of  nations  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  such  as  the  *'  Disciplina  Clericalis"  of  Petrus  Alfonsus, 
and  the  "  Gesta  Romanorum  "  (that  is,  if  these  are  earlier  than 
the  "Novellino"  itself),  and  from  the  biographies  of  the 
troubadours.     Finally,  the  Bible  and  the  chronicles  prob- 
ably supplied  several  contributions.     Alessandro  D'Ancona 
made  a  study  of  these  sources  of  the  book  in  a  very  valuable 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY   PROSE   LITERATURE      163 

treatise;  for  more  than  a  third  of  the  tales,  he  noted  the 
passages  in  which  the  same  or  a  similar  theme  is  treated  in 
other  ancient  monuments.  This  study  was  instructive,  as 
clearly  showing  that  the  author  so  often  merely  re- told  stories 
that  were  spread  far  and  wide  throughout  the  entire  literature 
of  Europe.  Of  course,  D'Ancona  was  not  able  to  discover 
the  direct  sources  for  each  individual  tale,  and  thus  to  obtain 
an  idea  of  the  way  in  which  it  had  been  used,  owing  to  the 
poverty  of  the  mode  of  exposition  employed  in  the  book, 
and  of  the  lack  of  details  that  might  serve  as  guiding  links 
for  the  discovery  of  the  more  immediate  origin  of  the  stories. 

For  these  narratives  of  the  "Novellino"  are  short  and  rapid 
sketches,  drawn  in  a  few  rough  strokes,  which  merely  give 
the  actual  facts,  without  working  them  out  in  any  way.  Of 
course,  the  single  tales  vary  greatly  in  point  of  detail. 
Although  meagreness  and  dryness  are  the  rule,  still  these 
qualities  are  not  so  exaggerated  in  the  story  of  Bito  and 
Frulli,  in  the  "  Novella  d'Amore  "  (99),  and  in  others,  as,  for 
example,  in  those  of  Pietro  Tavoliere  (17),  of  the  lady  of 
Gascony  and  the  king  of  Cyprus  (51),  of  the  Emperor 
Frederick,  who  desires  to  put  his  wife's  fidelity  to  the  test 
(100),  of  the  merchant  and  the  coins  (98),  and  others  that 
occupy  only  a  few  lines,  and  the  brevity  of  which  is  carried 
to  an  almost  unnatural  degree.  This  is,  however,  due  to  the 
anecdotic  character  of  the  stories,  the  interest  of  which  is 
mostly  concentrated  on  one  point.  They  frequently  end  with 
a  witty  saying,  a  clever  repartee,  or  an  ingenious  idea.  At 
times,  they  also  serve  to  point  a  moral  or  at  least  a  general 
maxim — a  quality  which  the  tales  may  have  derived  from 
their  sources  ;  for  the  Latin  collections  of  this  kind,  such  as 
the  "  Disciplina  Clericalis  "  and  the  "  Gesta  Romanorum,'' 
were  also  moral  and  didactic  in  aim.  The  mode  of  ex- 
pression corresponds  to  the  manner  of  exposition  :  the  sen- 
tences are  short  and  clumsy,  each  of  them  standing  alone  by 
itself,  after  the  manner  of  the  first  beginnings  of  prose,  whose 
elements  place  themselves  one  beside  the  other,  without 
blending  into  one  harmonious  whole,  such  as  we  find  in 
the  structure  of  the  sentence  when  it  has  reached  a  more 
advanced  stage  of  artistic  development. 

Whenever  the  tales  allude  to  historical  events  that  are 
known  to  us  and  to  which  a  date  can  be  assigned,  they  do 


i 


i^MIH 


IthMBihi 


afciwJITT-'fJr' 


tfes-TiitBagmfci^.i.-^Sffia^  ■    .._*.  -. 


164      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

not  go  beyond  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  so  that 
the  collection  was  probably  made  in  the  closing  years  of  the 
thirteenth  century  or  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth.  It 
has  been  assumed  that  it  was  compiled  by  degrees,  and  in 
different  sections,  but  as  yet  no  convincing  proof  has  been 
brought  against  the  theory  that  the  whole  is  due  to  one 
author.  This  was,  without  doubt,  a  Florentine,  as  is 
shown  by  the  language,  which,  it  is  true,  contains  some 
Gallicisms  or  Provenc^alisms,  but  no  dialectical  elements; 
the  subjects  of  several  of  the  tales  also  point  to  Florence. 
The  authorship  has  been  assigned  to  certain  definite  writers, 
to  Francesco  da  Barberino,  Brunetto  Latini  and  Andrea 
Lancia  ;  however,  all  these  suggestions  are  very  improbable, 
and  need  no  longer  be  seriously  considered. 

The  little  book  had,  and  still  has,  a  great  reputation  as  a 
model  of  style,  because  it  manages  to  say  so  many  things  in 
such  few  words.     It  is  true  that  this  brevity  and  rapidity  at 
times  adds  to  the  point  of  the  anecdote  and  brings  out  more 
strongly  the  flavour  of  the  fundamental  motive.     But,  on  the 
other  hand,  there  is  a  lack  of  warmth  and  colouring,  and  we 
have  skeletons  rather  than  vital  works  of  art.     The  tale  does 
not,  as  yet,  possess  an  individual  form;  the  bare  subject, 
without  artistic  form,  is  intended  to  produce  all  the  effect, 
and  even  that  is  not  the  creation  of  the  author.     Soon  after 
the  composition  of  the  work,  this  dryness  and  meagreness 
no  longer  gave  general  satisfaction,  and  an  attempt  was  made 
to  enlarge  the  tale  in  point  of  fullness  and  detail.     A  MS.  of 
the  National  Library  at  Florence,  the  so-called  Codex  Pan- 
ciatichi,  contains  a  collection  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-six 
pieces,  which  is,  however,  made  up  of  two  parts  that  were 
originally  independent  of  each  other.     The  majority  of  the 
stories  of  the  first  part  are  the  same  as  those  in  the  "  Novel- 
lino,"  with  slight  variations  in  form  and  in  the  order  followed. 
The  author  of  the  second  part  worked  with  a  text  which 
agreed  more  exactly  with  the  "  Novellino  "  than  that  of  the 
first  part ;  he  began  by  faithfully  reproducing  twenty-seven 
of  its  tales,  and  then  he  added  longer  ones,  and  also  made 
considerable  additions  to  some  which  he  subsequently  took 
from  the  *'  Novellino."     But  this  version  is  scarcely  a  success. 
The  text  has  not  been  enriched  with  vivid  and  interesting 
details,  but   merely  diluted.     A  comparison  between  the 


THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  PROSE   LITERATURE      165 

third  tale  of  the  "  Novellino "  and  the  one  hundred  and 
forty-third  of  the  MS.  Panciatichi  will  suffice  to  make  this 
clear.  The  subject  and  action  of  the  former  are  as  follows. 
King  Philip  orders  a  wise  Greek  to  be  held  in  captivity.  A 
noble  steed  is  sent  him  from  Spain,  and,  on  questioning  the 
wise  man  concerning  its  value,  he  receives  the  answer  that 
it  is  a  splendid  animal,  but  that  it  had  been  nourished  on 
asses'  milk.  The  King  sends  to  Spain  and  learns  that  this 
had  really  been  the  case,  the  mare  having  died  in  giving 
birth  to  the  colt.  He  is  amazed,  and  orders  half  a  loaf  to 
be  given  daily  to  the  sage  at  the  expense  of  the  court.  On 
another  occasion  the  King  has  the  prisoner  fetched,  in  order 
to  show  him  his  jewels  and  to  ask  him  which  is  the  most 
valuable  of  the  stones.  The  sage  holds  the  one  that  the 
Emperor  had  declared  to  be  his  favourite  against  his  ear,  and 
says  that  it  contains  a  worm ;  the  stone  is  broken  and  the 
worm  is  found.  The  King  is  again  astounded  and  orders  a 
whole  loaf  to  be  given  to  the  Greek  in  the  future.  A  few 
days  later  the  thought  occurs  to  the  King  that  he  might  be 
of  illegitimate  birth.  He  once  again  questions  his  prisoner, 
who,  after  some  hesitation,  reveals  to  him  that  he  is  the  son 
of  a  baker,  whereupon  the  King's  mother,  on  being  taxed 
with  this,  confesses  it  to  be  true.  Finally,  the  sage  at  the 
King's  desire  explains  how  he  came  to  know  all  these  things. 
He  recognised  that  the  horse  had  been  nourished  on  asses' 
milk,  because  it  allowed  its  ears  to  hang,  contrary  to  the 
nature  of  horses.  The  worm  in  the  stone  he  recognised 
from  the  fact  that  the  latter  was  warm,  against  the 
nature  of  stones.  Finally,  he  recognised  the  illegitimate 
descent  of  the  King  from  the  fact  that  he,  contrary  to  royal 
nature,  rewarded  his  wisdom  not  with  a  city,  but  with  loaves, 
like  a  baker.  It  is  one  of  the  best  tales  in  the  "  Novellino," 
and  a  theme  which  was  well  adapted  for  concise  treatment : 
Boccaccio  would  also  not  have  told  it  in  much  greater  detail. 
But  the  author  of  the  long  story  in  the  Codex  Panciatichi 
did  not  recognise  this  and  retailed  the  anecdote  with  a  pro- 
fusion of  idle  talk  :  all  kinds  of  useless  and  superfluous 
things  are  introduced,  so  that  it  is  clear  that  the  author 
worked  with  a  short  story  and  endeavoured  forcibly  to  ex- 
tend it  wherever  this  was  possible.  Who,  for  example,  takes 
an  interest  in  hearing  exactly  described  how  the  legates 


»• 


"-■M,r.  -^'tuf^^i 


».«_■. -i,-s*tii»i)t;v^>.   .,,!«»■ 


l66      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

journey  to  Spain,  how  they  are  well  received  by  the  King  of 
Spain,  how  they  return  and  so  on  ?    When  it  is  proved  that 
there  was  a  worm  in  the  stone,  is  it  necessary  to  say,  *'  Per 
la  volenta  di  Dio  v'era  entro  e  Dio  il  nodria"?     The  com- 
piler, in  making  his  version,  did  not  see  that  the  entire  value 
of  the  story  lay  in  its  point,  and  he  let  himself  go  as  though 
it  had  been  a  romance  or  tale  of  chivalry.     But  in  addition 
to  this  he  entirely  missed  the  point.     In  the  narrative  of  the 
^'  Novellino  "  as  also  in  the  other  versions  of  a  similar  theme, 
namely,  in  the  two  stories  of  the  "Thousand   and    One 
Nights  "  (No.  458  e/  seq.\  and  in  that  of  the  Spanish  "  Libro 
de  Enjemplos"  (No.  247)  the  essential  point  is  always  the 
fact  that  the  acute  observer  is  unacquainted  with  the  signs 
by  which  he  recognises  something  that  is  concealed,  and 
which  are  not  divulged  till  later.     In  this  way  the  amaze- 
ment and  curiosity  are  kept  alive  till  the  end.     In  the  long 
story  of  the  Codex  Panciatichi,  however,  the  signs  on  which 
the  sage  bases  his  replies  in  the  cases  of  the  horse  and  of  the 
stone  are  clumsily  revealed  at  the  beginning,  so  that  amaze- 
ment at  his  incredible  omniscience  is  no  longer  possible. 
And  in  the  same  way,  he  begins  by  revealing  to  the  King 
the  whole  history  of  his  birth,  so  that  he  does  not  ascertain 
this  merely  by  deductive  reasoning ;  thu.s,  the  halo  of  his 
wisdom  disappears  together  with  the  telling  reference  to  the 
stinginess  of  the  King,  who  gave  him  loaves  because  he  was 
the  son  of  a  baker.     Also  the  other  tales  have  only  lost  in 
this  version,  especially  the  one  concerning  Narcissus  (No. 
144),  and  this  suffices  to  prove  the  erroneousness  of  Bartoli's 
view,  who  assumed  that  these  longer  versions  were  the  original 
of  the  shorter  ones.     The  transformation  of  the  short  tale 
into  a  rich  and  brilliant  picture  was  the  work  of  Boccaccio. 
It  has  been  noticed  that  the  "  Novellino  "  contains  several 
French  and  Provenc^al  elements,  and  even  in  cases  where 
the  author  might  have  taken  his  themes  from  other  sources, 
it  is  not  improbable,  in  view  of  the  literary  conditions  pre- 
vailing at  the  time,  that  he  obtained  many  of  them  by  the 
circuitous  route  of  French  versions.     Still  more  extensive, 
probably,  was  the  process  of  borrowing  in  the  case  of  the 
"  Conti  di  Antichi  Cavalieri,"  consisting  of  twenty  anecdotic 
tales ;  they  are  taken  mostly  from  antiquity  (such  as  those 
concerning  Caesar,  Pompey,  Scipio,  Fabricius,  Regulus  and 


I 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY  PROSE   LITERATURE      167 

Brutus,  Hector  and  Agamemnon),  and  to  a  lesser  extent 
from  medieval  history  (*'  Re  Giovane,"  Saladin),  and  from 
the  legends  of  chivalry  (King  Tebaldo,  Brunor  and  Galeotto, 
i.e.,  the  Galeotto  of  the  Round  Table).  The  longest  and 
fullest  of  the  stories  is  that  of  Caesar.  Their  general  char- 
acter is  similar  to  that  of  the  "Cento  Novelle,"  and  not 
more  archaic  :  the  many  scholars  who  held  this  latter  view 
were  led  astray  by  the  Old  Aretine  dialect  in  which  the  tales 
are  written.  On  the  contrary,  we  have  here  no  narratives 
that  are  so  monosyllabic  as  some  in  the  "  Novellino."  The 
author  is  filled  with  admiration  for  his  heroes ;  sometimes 
the  memorable  utterances  of  these  are  set  down  in  the  same 
way  as  was  done  at  the  end  of  the  biographies.  The  words 
and  deeds  are  examples  of  the  greatest  perfection,  models 
that  are  intended  to  spur  on  to  emulation.  Bartoli  proved 
that  the  story  of  King  Tebaldo  is  taken  from  the  romance  of 
"  Fouque  de  Candie  "  :  many  passages  are  absolutely  unin- 
telligible till  compared  with  the  French  original.  This  leads 
us  to  suspect  a  similar  origin  for  the  other  tales. 

Among  the  collections  of  stories  that  were  the  common 
property  of  nations  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the  most  popular 
and  the  most  widely  read  was  that  of  the  "Seven  AVise 
Masters."  Originating  in  India,  it  had  spread  in  the  West 
in  quite  an  extraordinary  manner,  first  in  Latin  and  then  in 
vulgar  versions,  the  French  one  being  as  usual  the  earliest, 
and  finally  in  the  translations  and  adaptations  of  all  the 
European  languages.  The  special  feature  of  the  book  is 
that  the  tales  in  it  are  enclosed  as  it  were  in  a  frame  and 
welded  together  into  a  whole  by  means  of  a  main  narrative, 
as  is  the  case  in  the  other  Oriental  collection  of  the 
"  Thousand  and  One  Nights,"  which  is  now  better  known. 
According  to  the  Western  version  that  is  most  widely  dif- 
fused, the  beloved  wife  of  the  Emperor  of  Rome  dies,  leaving 
him  an  only  son,  whom  he  has  educated  by  seven  Wise  Men 
in  a  tower  outside  the  city,  so  that  he  may  be  out  of  the 
way  of  evil  influences.  When  his  education  is  finished,  he 
is  to  return  to  the  court ;  but  he  and  his  teachers  read  in  the 
stars  that  he  is  threatened  by  a  great  misfortune,  which  he 
can  avoid  only  by  maintaining  silence  for  seven  days.  The 
Emperor,  who  had  been  informed  of  his  son's  marvellous 
knowledge,  is  astonished,  on  seeing  him  again,  not  to  hear 


.# 


H 


l68      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

a  word  from  his  lips,  and  thinks  this  is  due  to  timidity,  which 
would  disappear  in  time ;  accordingly  he  sends  him  to  the 
women's  apartments.  But  the  second  wife  of  the  Emperor, 
whom  he  had  married  in  the  meantime,  and  who  had 
already  become  enamoured  of  the  youth  on  hearing  the 
reports  of  his  admirable  qualities,  endeavours  to  seduce 
him,  and,  when  he  remains  cold  and  dumb,  she  accuses 
him,  before  his  father,  of  the  fault  of  which  she  had  herself 
been  guilty.  The  Emperor  wishes  to  have  him  beheaded, 
but  each  morning,  while  the  prince  is  to  be  taken  to  the 
place  of  execution,  one  of  the  seven  wise  men  appears  and 
induces  the  father  to  postpone  the  event  by  the  recital  of  a 
story ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  Empress  strengthens  him  in 
his  resolution  anew  every  evening,  by  dint  of  another  tale. 
This  goes  on  for  seven  days,  till,  on  the  eighth,  the  prince 
himself  can  open  his  mouth,  and  tells  a  story  of  his  own, 
whereupon  his  step-mother  is  forced  to  confess  her  guilt  and 
is  burnt.  The  tales  of  the  seven  wise  men  deal  chiefly,  in 
accordance  with  their  object,  with  the  falseness  and  the  in- 
trigues of  women  ;  the  Empress,  for  her  part,  raises  a  warn- 
ing voice  with  examples  of  wicked  and  ungrateful  sons  and 
of  hypocrites  who  deceive  with  fair  speeches.  The  stories 
themselves  vary  in  part  in  the  numerous  transformations  that 
the  collection  has  undergone ;  the  individual  details  also  of 
the  principal  narrative  are  more  or  less  changed.  What 
pleased  so  generally  in  the  work  was,  as  Comparetti  justly 
observed,  together  with  the  satire  directed  against  women  that 
was  so  popular  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the  convenience  of  the 
frame-work,  which  always  permitted  new  stories  to  be  in- 
cluded in  the  place  of  the  old  ones  without  disturbing  the 
unity  of  the  plan.  An  Italian  version  which  was  published 
by  D'Ancona,  *'I1  libro  dei  Sette  Savii  di  Roma,"  be- 
longs to  the  thirteenth  century,  according  to  the  opinion 
of  the  editor,  and  is  only  a  translation  or  a  very  servile 
adaptation  of  a  French  original,  being  closely  related  to 
certain  versions  which  have  come  down  to  us ;  in  point  of 
language,  too,  there  are  many  traces  of  this.  From  a  very 
similar  original  is  translated  another  Italian  adaptation  which 
is  preserved  in  a  MS.  of  the  fourteenth  century  which  had 
long  disappeared  ;  not  long  ago  it  was  discovered  in  England 
by  Varnhagen  and  published  by  him.     A  different  type  is 


!■ 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY   PROSE   LITERATURE      169 

found  in  Northern  Italy,  the  earliest  known  representative 
of  which  was  shown  by  Mussafia  to  be  a  Latin  version  that 
was  probably  composed  by  an  Italian.  Of  this  latter  text, 
or  of  one  differing  but  slightly  from  it,  there  are  two  Italian 
renderings,  belonging  to  a  somewhat  later  period,  and  to 
the  same  or  a  closely  related  source  goes  back  a  very  clumsy 
poem  in  stanzas  of  eight  verses,  with  strong  Venetian  colour- 
ing and  written  in  the  fifteenth  century,  as  also  the  still  later 
"  Compassionevoli  Avvenimenti  di  Erasto,"  a  transformation, 
in  the  classical  manner,  of  the  old  book,  according  to  the  taste 
of  the  Renaissance.  But  in  the  case  of  the  Northern  Italian 
version  also,  on  which  all  these  works  are  based,  Pio  Rajna 
showed  that  it  was  related  to  the  French  adaptations,  though 
it  had  altered  these  more  freely ;  and  he  assumes  that  the 
Latin  text  discovered  by  Mussafia  is  a  translation,  or  rather 
an  abbreviated  version,  of  a  Venetian  original  or  of  a  French 
one  which  was  written  in  Italy  and  which  is  now  lost. 

The  legend  of  chivalry  of  the  Breton  cycle,  which  was 
so  frequently  introduced  into  the  short  tales,  was  more  fully 
treated  in  a  prose  monument  the  date  of  which  is  not  easy 
to  determine,  and  which  might  even  belong  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fourteenth  century,  but  nevertheless  deserves 
mention  in  this  period  of  literary  beginnings  as  being  the 
earliest  Italian  version  of  these  legends  which  were  destined 
to  play  so  important  a  part :  this  is  the  "  Tavola  Rotonda  " 
contained  in  a  MS.  of  the  "  Biblioteca  Ricciardana "  in 
Florence.  Nannucci,  who  first  made  the  work  known  by 
printing  several  specimens  of  it,  considered  it  to  be  a  trans- 
lation from  the  French,  and  it  must,  at  all  events,  be  very 
closely  related  to  the  French  Arthurian  romances. — The 
legend  of  Troy  was,  as  has  already  been  casually  remarked, 
treated  by  Guido  delle  Colonne  of  Messina  in  his  Latin 
"  Historia  Trojana,"  which  was  begun  before  the  year  1272 
and  finished,  after  a  long  interruption,  in  1287.  The  author, 
who  is  probably  identical  with  the  lyric  poet  already  known 
to  us,  pretends  that  it  is  a  historical  narrative  based  on 
ancient  accounts,  whereas  his  actual  source  was  the  "  Roman 
de  Troie  "  of  Benoit  de  Ste.  More.  By  his  pedantic  serious- 
ness he  robbed  his  original  of  its  entire  poetic  charm,  but 
for  that  very  reason  his  work,  which  thus  bore  a  strong 
stamp  of  authenticity,  became  one   of  the  most  popular 


I/O      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

medieval  versions  of  the  legend :  partly  from  it,  partly  directly 
from  its  French  source,  are  derived  the  various  Italian 
versions  of  the  Trojan  war  that  belong  to  the  fourteenth 
century. — Of  a  French  history  of  Ccxsar,  which  clothed  the 
narrative  of  Sallust's  "Catiline"  and  of  Csesar's  "Com- 
mentaries," as  also  the  accounts  of  Lucan  and  of  Suetonius, 
in  the  garb  of  the  medieval  romance  of  chivalry,  there  are 
two  Italian  versions.  The  one,  which  used  to  be  known 
under  the  ill-fitting  title  of  "  Volgarizzamento  di  Lucano," 
and  which  does  not  commence  till  Caesar's  passage  over  the 
Rubicon,  though,  doubtless,  it  originally  contained  also  the 
beginning  of  the  romance,  is  a  reproduction,  often  a  literal 
translation  of  the  original,  whereas  the  "  Fatti  di  Cesare,"  as 
the  other  was  called  by  its  editor,  mostly  represents  the 
French  text  in  a  strongly  abbreviated  form.  The  longer 
version  is  contained  in  a  MS.  of  the  "  Ricciardana,"  which 
is  dated  131 3  and  appears  to  be  the  autograph;  and  so 
these  two  monuments  probably  also  belong  to  the  beginning 
of  the  fourteenth  century. 

From  France,  too,  come  some  religious  narratives,  the 
"  Dodici  Conti  Morali,"  ascetic  stories  of  miracles  and  con- 
versions, which  always  close  with  a  moral,  in  the  nianner 
of  sermons.  The  language  shows  some  peculiarities  of 
the  Sienese  dialect,  which  may,  however,  be  due  to  the 
scribe.  Soon  after  the  publication  of  the  little  book,  Mus- 
safia  showed  that  one  of  these  tales  is  a  translation  of  an 
old  French  conte  devot,  while  Bartoli  proved  the  same  of 
another,  and  Reinhold  Kohler  finally  found  the  originals  of 
eight  more  in  the  legends  of  the  "  Vie  des  Anciens  Peres." 
The  French  is  frequently  reproduced  word  for  word,  but  in 
other  cases  the  Italian  author  allowed  himself  a  freer  hand. 

And  so  here,  too,  in  the  oldest  prose  literature,  wherever 
it  is  a  question  of  subjects  for  narrative  we  note  the  extreme 
sterility  of  Italy  in  the  early  periods,  and,  in  consequence, 
her  dependence  on  the  rich  literature  of  her  French  neigh- 
bour. But  though  there  was  a  lack  of  legends  and  invented 
tales,  the  national  history,  on  the  other  hand,  supplied 
plentiful  material  for  prose  narrative  ;  but  the  chronicles  did 
not  lay  aside  their  Latin  dress  till  later,  and  it  is  now  ex- 
ceedingly doubtful  whether  the  vulgar  tongue  was  used  for 
the  purposes  of  history  within  the  thirteenth  century,  at  all 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY   PROSE   LITERATURE      171 

events  for  any  considerable  efiort.  Of  writings  that  may 
with  certainty  be  ascribed  to  this  period,  we  have  now 
nothing  save  a  short  chronicle  in  the  dialect  of  Pisa,  loose 
annahstic  notes  for  the  years  1006- 12 76,  put  together  with- 
out any  regard  for  order,  which  were  discovered  by  Enea 
Piccolomini  in  the  libro  di  ricordi  of  a  Pisan  merchant,  and 
published  by  him  under  the  title  "  Cronichetta  Pisana,  scritta 
in  volgare  nel  1279."  Some  other  more  extensive  works, 
which  used  formerly  to  be  ascribed  to  this  period,  have  been 
proved  to  be  later  forgeries. 

The  "  Diurnali "  of  Matteo  Spinello  of  Giovenazzo  were 
supposed  to  be  the  notes  of  a  contemporary  concerning  the 
events  that  occurred  in  his  country  between  the  years  1249 
and  1268,  written  down  in  his  native  Apulian  dialect.  But 
the  researches  of  Wilhelm  Bernhardi  proved  that  the  monu- 
ment was  aprocryphal.  Events  are  recorded  in  it  which 
either  did  not  take  place  at  all,  or  which,  at  any  rate,  oc- 
curred altogether  differently  from  the  manner  here  described, 
and  this  betokens  an  ignorance  of  the  true  state  of  things 
which  is  incredible  in  the  case  of  a  contemporary,  especially 
as  the  author  frequently  maintains  that  he  had  seen  the 
affairs  with  his  own  eyes.  Besides,  the  chronology  is  in  such 
a  state  of  confusion,  that  in  order  to  put  it  right,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  make  continual  and  exceedingly  violent  changes  and 
transpositions  in  the  text. 

Not  much^stronger  is  the  case  for  the  chronicle,  which  was 
supposed  to  be  the  earliest  treating  of  Florence  in  the  vulgar 
tongue— that  of  the  Malespini,  which  was  first  printed  by 
the  Giunti  at  Florence  in  the  year  1568.  A  certain  Ricor- 
dano  Malespini  relates  the  history  of  the  town,  from  the 
time  of  its  foundation  till  the  year  1282,  the  period  from  that 
date  till  1286  being  treated  by  one  Giacotto,  who  was  sup- 
posed to  be  the  nephew  of  the  other.  Certain  allusions  by 
the  authors  themselves  showed  that  the  events  were  at  any 
rate  chronicled  some  time  after  their  occurrence.  Ricordano 
boasts  that  he  worked  with  very  ancient  documents,  dating 
from  the  time  when  the  Romans  destroyed  Fiesole,  and  on 
these  he  bases  his  account  of  the  foundation  of  Florence, 
with  all  the  fables  that  had  become  attached  to  it  through 
the  popular  tradition  following  in  the  paths  of  the  classics, 
with  the  fables  of  Catiline,  who  overcame  King  Fiorino  and 


t 


172      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

married  his  wife  Belisea,  of  Teverina,  Fiorinos's  daughter, 
who  was  carried  off  by  a  centurion,  and  others  of  the  same 
kind.  For  the  periods  that  were  closer  to  his  own,  he  shows 
himself  more  sober  and  more  faithful  to  historical  truth. 
But  it  was  always  considered  remarkable  that  his  reports 
tallied  closely,  not  alone  in  points  of  fact,  but  even  in  the 
words,  with  Giovanni  Villani,  the  admirable  Florentine  chro- 
nicler, who  wrote  some  decades  later  ;  and  so  it  was  said  that 
Villani,  following  a  custom  which,  indeed,  we  frequently 
find  in  the  Middle  Ages,  had  stolen  from  his  predecessor 
without  naming  him.  However,  Scheffer-Boichorst's  study, 
"  Die  Geschichte  der  Malespini,  eine  Falschung,"  published 
in  1870,  proved  the  exact  contrary  to  be  the  case.  Going  back 
to  the  sources  of  the  chronicles,  Scheffer-Boichorst  found 
that  Villani  follows  them  far  more  closely  than  the  supposed 
Malespini,  in  all  cases  where  there  can  be  a  doubt  as  to  which 
was  the  plagiarist,  and  that  his  work  contains  many  data  of  the 
most  diverse  origin  that  are  wanting  in  Malespini,  whereas  the 
latter  gives  no  real  historical  fact  which  is  not  also  contained 
in  Villani.  Villani's  narrative  is  clear  and  consistent ;  not 
so  that  of  Malespini,  in  which  occur  also  actual  contra- 
dictions. Scheffer-Boichorst  therefore  rightly  declared  the 
work  of  Malespini  to  be  apocryphal :  he  thinks  that  it  may 
have  been  composed  in  the  second  half  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  for  the  purpose  of  flattering  some  of  the  great 
Florentine  families,  especially  that  of  the  Buonaguisi,  whose 
names  the  author  often  introduced  into  Villani's  text.  It 
is  a  curious  fact  that  the  penetrating  scholar,  Giuseppe  Tode- 
schini,  came  to  precisely  the  same  result  in  a  work  which  was 
written  as  early  as  the  year  1853,  though  it  was  not  published 
till  after  the  appearance  of  Scheffer-Boichorst's  book. 

The  true  historian  of  the  period,  the  one  who  gives  us  the 
most  complete  picture,  of  its  spirit  and  culture,  wrote  in 
Latin,  but  in  a  Latin  that  resembles  Italian  in  the  vocabulary 
and  constructions,  so  that  the  author's  native  tongue  pierces 
through  and  imparts  vivacity  to  his  mode  of  expression. 
This  historian  is  Fra  Salimbene  of  Parma.  He  composed 
several  chronicles  and  treatises,  but  of  these  nothing  is  pre- 
served beyond  one  of  the  former,  and  even  there  the  be- 
ginning is  lacking.  As  far  as  we  possess  it,  it  treats  the 
history  of  the  author's  native  city,  that  of  Italy  and,  in  part, 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY  PROSE   LITERATURE      173 

that  of  the  world,  from  1167  to  1287.    The  commencement 
is  less  minute  and  largely  borrowed  from  the  chronicles- of 
others,  notably  that  of  Sicard  of  Cremona ;  the  great  im- 
portance of  the  work  begins  with  the  narrative  of  the  events 
that  occurred  during  the  author's  lifetime.     Salimbene  was 
born  in  the  year  1 22 1,  of  the  distinguished  and  wealthy  family 
of  the  Adami.     He  was  irresistibly  carried  away  by  the 
powerful  movement  of  religious  exaltation  then  at  its  height, 
and  entered  the  cloister  of  the  Minorites  at  the  age   of 
seventeen.     His  father,  Guido  di  Adamo,  who  thus  saw  his 
hopes  for  the  continuation  of  the  family  frustrated,  was 
deeply  grieved.     He  addressed   himself  to   the   Emperor 
Frederick,  in  order  to  get  his  son  back,  and  Frate  Elia,  the 
General  of  the  Order,  consented  to  his  return  to  a  secular 
hfe.     In  a  conversation,  Guido  begs  his  son  to  avail  himself 
of  this  permission,  entreats  him,  puts  before  him,  with  moving 
words,  the  grief  of  his  mother  and  himself,  and  finally  utters 
a  terrible  curse  over  him.    But  all  is  futile.    The  son  remains 
firm  and  replies  to  his  father's  representations  with  BibHcal 
sayings.    In  the  following  night  the  Holy  Virgin  rewards  him 
with  a  vision  :  she  extends  to  him  and  lets  him  kiss  her  little 
babe,  because  he  has  professed  his  faith  in  her  before  man- 
kind.    After  the  fashion  of  the  Franciscan  monks,  he  saw 
much  of  the  world,  travelled  in  France  and  Italy,  became  ac- 
quainted with  many  things  and  knew  many  people  of  im- 
portance.   He  was  still  living  in  1 288,  as  is  shown  by  allusions 
in  his  chronicle.     He  says  that  he  wrote  this  work  for  his 
niece,  the  nun  Agnes,  at  an  advanced  age,  for  the  greater 
part  in  the  years  1283  and  1284,  with  additions  made  in  the 
following  years.     And  he  narrates  like  an  old  man,  at  times 
one  would  rather  say  like  an  old  woman,  with  a  garrulous 
verbosity  and  innumerable  digressions.  At  every  moment  one 
thing  or  another  occurs  to  him,  that  turns  him  away  from  the 
thread  of  his  narrative.     From  one  person   he   comes  to 
another,  because  the  two  were  in  some  way  connected.     He 
repeats  the  same  facts  over  and  over  again,  and  is  fond  of 
dilating  on  things  that  he  happened  to  see,  and  on  people 
with  whom  he  came  into  contact.     And  that  is  the  very 
reason  why  he  gives  as  such  a  quantity  of  interesting  data : 
his  historical  figures  are  endowed  with  life  and  movement, 
because  we  learn  certain  personal  traits  of  theirs,  or  qualities 


174      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

that  are  less  obvious,  certain  actions  and  sayings,  on  which 
the  other  chroniclers  of  the  time  lay  no  stress.  Salimbene 
is  religious  and  superstitious,  being  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
miracles,  visions,  and  appearances  of  the  saints  and  the  devil. 
Believing  in  prophecies,  he  continually  quotes  sayings  from 
the  Bible  as  being  suitable  to  certain  events  and  as  foretelling 
them.  He  was  also  a  zealous  believer  in  the  prophecies  and 
doctrines  of  the  Abbot  Joachim,  till  the  year  i  260,  which 
proved  them  to  be  false,  in  that  there  were  no  signs  of  the 
expected  universal  peace.  In  spite  of  all  this,  however,  he 
is  keenly  interested  in  secular  events,  is  fond  of  narrating 
little  stories,  buffooneries,  and  merry  pranks;  quotes  pro- 
verbs and  popular  songs,  Latin,  Italian,  and  French ;  and 
corroborates  his  statements  by  citing  the  verses  of  the  Goliard 
Primas,  or  of  his  older  contemporary,  Patechio  of  Cremona, 
no  less  than  the  words  of  Holy  Writ.  He  speaks  of  sermons 
and  of  edifying  matters,  and  of  holy  men,  and  admires  the 
great  piety  of  King  Lewis,  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  does  not 
forget  to  report  what  he  gave  the  monks  for  dinner,  and  enu- 
merates the  various  dishes.  Under  the  year  1284,  he  notes 
that  he  for  the  first  time  ate  raviolos  sine  crusta  de  pasta,  in 
festo  Sanctce  Clarce.  He  mentions  the  number  of  fleas  there 
were  in  March  of  the  year  1 285,  and  quotes  verses  concerning 
fleas,  bugs,  and  gnats.  And  his  anecdotic  reports  are  often 
more  effectively  humorous  than  the  contemporary  novelle. 
Thus,  to  give  only  one  example,  that  of  the  false  saint, 
Albertus  of  Cremona,  qui  fit e rat  unus  vini  portator  simiil  et 
potator,  nee  non  et  peccator,  and  who  was  supposed,  after  his 
death,  to  have  worked  many  miracles  (1279),  so  that  the 
people  of  Parma  carried  in  procession  a  relic  of  his  that  has 
been  consigned  to  their  care,  and  had  it  solemnly  laid  on 
the  altar  of  the  cathedral,  where,  however,  the  celebrating 
priest  discovered  it  to  be  a  piece  of  garlic. 

Salimbene's  chronicle  is  filled  with  a  strong  subjective- 
ness,  the  expression  of  a  personality  with  its  likes  and 
dislikes.  "Salimbene,"  said  Dove,  "is  the  most  personal 
among  the  historians  of  the  real  Middle  Ages;  what  has 
come  down  to  us  from  him  actually  bears  the  stamp  of 
*  Memoirs.'"  And  his  likes  and  dislikes  are  very  pro- 
nounced. He  loves  and  hates  with  his  soul,  and  when  he 
is  a  man's  enemy  he  does  not  spare  him  even  after  death. 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY   PROSE   LITERATURE      175 

See,  for  example,  his  obituary  notice  of  the  Bishop  of 
Reggio,  Guillielmus  de  Foliano  :  "  Melius  fuisset  ei  si  fuisset 
porcarius  vel  leprosus,  quam  quia  fuisset  episcopus" — and 
the  worse  things  that  follow.  His  hatred  is  principally 
directed  against  the  secular  clergy,  to  whom  the  mendicant 
orders  were  always  opposed  ;  at  the  corruption  of  the  priests 
he  hurls  bitter  invectives,  and  does  not  scruple  to  tell  of 
them  the  most  scandalous  stories.  But  in  this  he  did  no- 
thing but  lend  his  voice  to  the  general  indignation  of  the 
time,  in  the  same  way  as  Jacopone  and,  later,  Dante,  Pe- 
trarca,  and  so  many  others.  And,  even  though  he  cannot 
of  course  write  without  party  feeling,  yet  he  has  a  clear  eye 
for  political  conditions,  and  often  judges  them  sharply  and 
correctly.  We  may  instance  the  sensible  remarks  concern- 
ing the  war  between  Genoa  and  Pisa  (p.  305),  or  concerning 
the  policy  of  the  Popes,  who,  on  the  accession  of  a  new 
Emperor,  always  endeavour  to  force  from  him  an  extension 
of  their  temporal  power  (p.  282),  or  those  concerning  the 
parties  of  the  Lombard  cities  that  can  never  come  to  terms, 
and  struggle  against  one  another  with  constant  change  of 
fortune,  like  children,  when  in  play  they  lay  one  hand  on 
the  other's  and  draw  it  away  in  turns,  so  that  the  lower 
becomes  the  upper  (p.  348). 

While,  then,  the  Italian  historians  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, as  a  rule,  still  used  the  Latin  language,  and  while  a 
work  that  is  so  full  of  life  and  so  closely  related  to  actual 
events  as  the  chronicle  of  Salimbene  is  composed  in  this 
tongue,  the  vulgar  idiom,  on  the  other  hand,  had  already 
found  its  way  into  the  domains  of  didactic,  scientific,  and 
moral  prose  literature,  where  it  served  as  a  means  of  popu- 
larisation. In  proportion  as  the  communes,  in  which  the 
citizens  gradually  obtained  the  mastery  over  public  affairs, 
gained  in  strength,  and  as  the  legal  and  medical  studies 
developed,  knowledge,  instead  of  belonging  exclusively  to 
the  priests,  passed  more  and  more  into  the  possession  of 
the  laity,  and  began  to  exercise  a  greater  influence  on 
society.  In  the  thirteenth  century  a  general  endeavour 
begins  to  make  itself  felt  to  diffuse  knowledge,  and  to 
make  it  accessible  to  all  alike,  and  not  merely  to  scholars. 
This  was  the  direction  taken,  above  all,  by  Ser  Brunetto 
Latini  in  his  literary  work,  who  was  greatly  esteemed  by  his 


A 


iy6      HISTORY  OF    EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 


contemporaries  on  account  of  his  many-sided  scholarship. 
Giovanni  Villani  (viii.  lo)  says  of  him:  "He  was  a  great 
philosopher  and  a  perfect  master  of  rhetoric,"  and  further 
on  he  assigns  to  him  the  honourable  distinction  of  having 
been  "the  beginner  and  master  in  refining  the  Florentines 
and  in  teaching  them  how  to  speak  well,  and  how  to  guide 
and  rule  our  republic  according  to  policy."     He  may  have 
been  born  about  the  year  1 210,  as  a  daughter  of  his  was 
married  as  early  as  1248;  in  the  years  1254  and  1255  he 
figures  as  notary  in  public  documents.    In  1260  the  Guelph 
party,  which  saw  its  supremacy  threatened  by  the  power  of 
King  Manfred,  sent  him  for  help  to  the  court  of  Alfonso  X. 
of  Castile.     During  his  absence  the  Florentines  were  de- 
feated at  Monteaperti ;  the  heads  of  the  Guelphs  had  to 
leave  the  city,  Brunetto  also  was  not  able  to  return.     He 
sought   refuge   in    France,   and   there   he  wrote   his  great 
encyclopaedia,  the  "  Tresor,"  in  the  language  of  the  country 
in  which  he  was  staying,  that  is  to  say,  in  French,  for  the 
reason,  among  others,  as  he  expressly  says,  that  his  work 
might  thereby  become  more  widely  known.    It  was  intended 
not  only  for  Italian   readers,  but  also  for  those  of  other 
nations.     Brunetto  probably  remained  in  France  till  after 
the  battle  of  Benevento,  which  restored  the  supremacy  in 
Italy  to  the  Guelphs.     In  1296  he  was  chief  notary  of  the 
Vicar-General   of  Tuscany,  who   had  been   appointed  by 
Charles  of  Anjou,  and  in  1270  he  came  to  Pisa  in  the  same 
capacity.     In  a  document  of  the  year  1273  he  bears  the 
title,  scriba   Consiliorum   Communis  Florentice^    that   is   to 
say,  he  was  Chancellor,  or,  as  it  was  then  called,  dittatore 
of  the  republic,  charged  with  drawing  up  the  public  records  ; 
Villani  also  mentions  his  having  held  this  office.     In  1280 
he  is  named  among  the  sureties  for  the  peace  that  had  been 
concluded  between  the  parties  of  the  city  by  the  Cardinal 
Latino,  and  on  October  13th,  1284,  he  was  one  of  the  two 
syndics  for  his  city  in  the  conclusion  of  the  league  between 
Florence,  Lucca,  and  Genoa  against  Pisa.     In  1287  (from 
August  15th  till  October  15th)  he  sat  in  the  Assembly  of 
the  Priors.     He  also   often    took   an   active   part   in   the 
counsels  of  the  commune.     He  died  at  an  advanced  age  in 
1294  or  at  the  beginning  of  1295.     Brunetto  is  of  special 
importance  also  on  account  of  the  relations  in  which  he 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY   PROSE   LITERATURE      I77 


stood  to  Dante.  To  judge  from  the  dutiful  and  loving 
words  which  the  latter  addresses  to  him  in  the  fifteenth 
canto  of  the  "Inferno,"  he  was  scarcely,  as  was  formerly 
believed,  his  teacher  in  the  literal  meaning  of  the  word,  but 
still  his  paternal  friend  and  adviser,  and  one  who  exercised 
a  great  influence  on  his  intellectual  development.  From 
the  "  Tresor  "  of  Brunetto,  Dante,  in  common  with  all  his 
contemporaries,  derived  no  small  portion  of  his  know- 
ledge. 

The  encyclopaedias  of  the  Middle  Ages  served  to  spread 
knowledge,  in  that  from  the  books  that  were  at  that  time  so 
difficult  of  access  they  extracted  what  appeared  to  be  the 
most  essential  features  of  every  branch  of  science,  and  gave 
it  to  the  reader  collected  together  in  a  more  convenient 
form.  The  oldest  work  of  this  kind  known  is  the  "  Imago 
Mundi"  of  Honorius  of  Autun  (circa  11 20).  Far  more 
splendid  in  scope  is  the  "  Speculum  Universale  "  of  Vincent 
of  Beauvais,  whose  industry  as  a  compiler  is  simply  astound- 
ing; this  was  written  about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  Both  these  works  were  composed  in  Latin ;  but 
the  character  of  these  scientific  compilations,  that  were  in- 
tended for  a  large  public,  obviously  pointed  to  the  employ- 
ment of  the  vulgar  tongue.  To  the  year  1245  belongs  a 
French  "  Image  du  Monde "  in  octosyllabic  verses,  the 
greater  part  of  which  goes  back  to  the  work  of  Honorius 
of  Autun.  Brunetto's  book,  too,  is  one  of  the  earliest 
attempts  at  an  encyclopaedia  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  and  its 
success  is  vouched  for  by  the  large  number  of  manuscripts 
in  which  it  it  has  been  preserved ;  Chabaille  was  acquainted 
with  twenty-eight  of  them  in  the  libraries  of  Paris  alone. 
The  early  additions  and  interpolations  to  be  found  in  the 
work  are  another  important  proof  of  its  popularity ;  every- 
one endeavoured,  according  to  his  taste  and  lights,  to  add  to 
the  sum  of  knowledge  that  had  been  collected. 

Brunetto  Latini  called  his  book  the  "  Treasure ; "  for,  he 
says,  as  a  prince  collects  a  treasure  of  the  most  valuable 
things,  so  as  to  have  it  ready  for  future  needs,  in  the  same 
way  this  work  was  drawn  together  into  a  Summa,  from  all 
the  branches  of  philosophy.  According  to  this  conception, 
philosophy  comprises  all  that  is  known,  and  he  divides  the 
whole  into  three  main  sections.     The  first  book  treats  of 

I.  N 


1 


t. 


178      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

theoretical  philosophy,  that  is,  of  all  things  in  so  far  as  they 
are  merely  objects  of  knowledge,  as  they  are  known.  The 
second,  dealing  with  the  virtues  and  vices,  belongs  to  prac- 
tical philosophy,  inasmuch  as  it  gives  instructions  as  to 
acting  rightly;  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  also  contains,  as 
the  author  declares,  elements  from  the  third  part  of  philo- 
sophy, namely,  logic,  because  the  causes  of  the  moral  de- 
terminations are  also  examined.  The  third  book  comprises 
rhetoric  and  politics,  that  is  to  say,  another  portion  of 
practical  philosophy.  The  theoretical  exposition  of  know- 
ledge in  the  first  book  starts  with  the  definition  and  division 
of  philosophy  itself,  then  discusses  the  creation  of  the  world, 
the  essence  of  God  and  of  nature,  of  the  angels  and  of 
men,  treats  of  body  and  soul,  of  reason,  of  law,  divine  and 
human,  of  those  that  protect  and  administer  it,  and  in  this 
way  comes  to  the  origin  of  kings  and  of  kingdoms,  thus 
affording  an  opportunity  of  introducing  a  sketch  of  the 
world's  history,  sacred  and  profane,  from  Adam  down  to 
the  author's  own  days.  The  data  of  this  narrative  are  short 
and  scrappy,  largely  mingled  with  fables  and  very  badly 
arranged,  as  is  to  be  expected  from  a  compendious  Uni- 
versal History  in  those  times.  The  work  originally  ended 
with  the  expulsion  of  the  Guelphs  from  Florence  (1260), 
but  Brunetto  subsequently  brought  it  down  to  the  death  of 
Conradin,  and  at  the  same  time  considerably  enlarged  it,  mak- 
ing use  of  the  world-chronicle  of  Martinus  Polonus,  which 
appeared  at  that  time.  The  chapters  on  Frederick  IL  and 
Manfred  are  inspired  by  the  bitter  hatred  to  be  expected 
from  Brunetto  as  a  follower  of  the  Guelph  party. 

This  mainly  historical  section  is  followed  by  the  one  deal- 
ing with  physics.  First,  we  have  discourses  on  the  general 
constitution  of  the  universe,  the  form  of  earth  and  heaven 
and  the  motion  of  the  stars — that  is  to  say,  astronomy.  This 
is  followed  by  geography,  for  which  the  author  relies  almost 
entirely  on  Solinus,  and  by  a  short  treatise  on  agriculture, 
based  on  Palladius ;  and,  finally,  we  get  the  natural  history 
of  animals,  drawn  again  from  Solinus,  and  also  from  Isidorus, 
the  *'  Hexaemeron  "  of  S.  Ambrose  and  the  medieval  bestiaries. 
In  the  geography  section  the  author  takes  over  from  his 
source  the  accounts  of  strange  and  monstrous  Indian  tribes, 
of  men  with  dog's  heads,  of  such  as  have  only  one  leg,  of 


! 


I 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY   PROSE   LITERATURE      1 79 

Others  that  have  no  head  and  whose  eyes  are  in  the  shoulder ; 
while  the  portion  dealing  with  natural  history  is  filled  with 
all  those  curious  fables  concerning  the  habits  and  properties 
of  animals  which  were  so  popular  in  the  Middle  Ages,  of  the 
basilisk  that  kills  with  a  look,  of  the  salamander  that  lives  in 
the  fire,  of  the  swan  that  sings  before  dying,  of  the  dragon 
and  the  phoenix,  of  the  stag  that,  run  down  and  weary,  seeks 
death  by  turning  round  to  the  hunters,  of  the  sweet  breath 
of  the  panther  that  attracts  animals,  of  the  unicorn  that  can 
be  captured  only  by  a  pure  virgin.  It  would  be  unjust  to 
require  of  Brunetto  critical  judgment,  when  he  adopts  his 
sources ;  he  merely  took  over  from  them  what  he  found,  as 
was  then  the  custom.  His  work  is  nothing  but  a  compila- 
tion :  "  II  est,"  as  he  says,  "  autressi  come  une  bresche  de 
miel  cueiUie  de  diverses  flors;  car  cist  livres  est  compiles 
seulement  de  mervilleus  diz  des  autres  qui  devant  nostre 
tens  ont  traitie  de  philosophie." 

The  second  book,  on  the  virtues  and  vices,  begins  with  a 
compendium  of  Aristotle's  "Nicomachean  Ethics,"  taken 
from  the  Latin  translation,  for  Brunetto  was  of  course  ignorant 
of  Greek.  This  is  augmented  by  supplementary  moral  re- 
flections drawn  from  various  medieval  treatises,  such  as 
Isidorus's  "  Liber  sententiarum,"  the  "  De  IV.  virtutibus  "  of 
Martinus  Dumensis  (which  was  attributed  to  Seneca),  the 
"  Ars  loquendi  et  tacendi "  of  Albertanus  de  Brixia,  and 
others. 

The  third  and  last  book  is  an  exposition  of  rhetoric, 
mainly  according  to  the  first  book  of  Cicero's  "  De  Inven- 
tione."  With  Brunetto,  as  with  the  ancients,  rhetoric  is  closely 
connected  with  poUtics,  seeing  that  eloquence  is  the  chief 
and  most  indispensable  instrument  of  government  and  public 
life.  In  politics,  however,  the  author  limits  his  observations 
to  quite  a  special  theme,  to  the  institution  of  the  Fodestd  in 
the  Italian  cities.  This  is  really  opposed  to  the  funda- 
mental idea  of  his  work,  which  was  to  compile  all  that  is 
worth  knowing,  briefly,  but  in  as  complete  a  form  as  possible ; 
to  this  inconsistency,  however,  we  are  indebted  for  the  only 
portion  of  the  encyclopaedia  that  is  really  original  and  there- 
fore the  most  interesting  of  all.  It  is  true  that  even  here  he 
made  use  of  an  older  work  on  the  office  of  the  Fodestd,  the 
"Oculus  Pastoralis"  (as  was  pointed  out  by  Mussafia),  but  still 


l8o      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

he  showed  great  independence  and  added  much  that  was 
new.  Brunetto,  who  was  himself  a  state  official,  knew  all 
about  these  matters  from  personal  observation,  and  his  in- 
structions for  the  choice  of  the  Fodeshl,  for  his  conduct  on 
assuming  the  office,  for  the  transaction  of  state  business  and 
the  administration  of  justice,  for  the  course  he  is  to  follow  in 
times  of  peace  and  of  war,  for  the  speeches  he  has  to  deliver, 
and  the  like,  do  not,  it  is  true,  testify  to  any  very  deep 
political  thought :  still,  they  show  a  sane  and  practical  judg- 
ment, experience  and  discernment,  besides  giving  interest- 
ing details  concerning  the  nature  of  the  remarkable  institution 
in  those  days. 

Brunetto's  encyclopaedia  strove  to  embrace  the  entire  field 
of  what  was  then  known.  One  section  of  this,  namely, 
astronomy,  was  treated  in  far  greater  detail  in  the  book  of 
Ristoro  of  Arezzo,  entitled,  **  Delia  Composizione  del 
Mondo,"  and  completed  in  the  year  1282.  This  deals  not 
only  with  the  form  and  motions  of  heaven  and  the  con- 
stellations, but  also  with  the  natural  phenomena  on  earth,  in 
so  far  as  they  were  held  to  be  determined  by  heavenly 
influences.  Ristoro  was  a  monk,  as  is  shown  by  his  own 
words;  his  knowledge  is  derived  partly  from  the  ancients, 
such  as  Ptolemy,  Aristotle,  and  Isidorus,  partly  from  the 
Latin  translations  of  Arabian  writers,  such  as  Averrhoes, 
Avicenna,  Algazel,  and  Alfergan,  whom  he  quotes  himself.  It 
is  scarcely  probable  that  the  Aretine  monk  made  any  original 
contributions  to  the  science  of  astronomy.  He  stands  abso- 
lutely on  the  level  of  his  time,  as  when  he  proves  with  the 
greatest  naivete  (Dist.  viii.,  cap  12),  that  the  southern  hemi- 
sphere must  be  entirely  covered  with  water  and  uninhabited, 
because  no  ships  had  ever  come  from  there,  because  the 
southern  firmament  had  less  constellations,  and  was,  accord- 
ingly, less  noble,  and.  for  other  equally  valid  reasons ;  or 
where  he  shows,  in  another  passage  (Dist.  viii.,  cap.  3),  that 
the  whole  world  must  be  full  of  spirits  without  a  body,  and 
how  these  are  able  to  influence  things  on  earth.  Ristoro's 
work  is  of  special  interest,  too,  as  a  monument  of  the  old 
Aretine  dialect,  in  its  pure  form,  without  any  traces  of  the 
literary  tongue. 

Science  was  not  yet  creative,  but  consisted  in  appro- 
priating whatever  a  former  age  of  high  culture  had  dis- 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY   PROSE   LITERATURE      181 

covered.     Hence  these  popular  compilations,  hence,  too, 
the  translations  of  the  writings  of  classical  authors,  which 
made    the   latter    accessible    to    the    general    public    un- 
acquainted with  the  learned  tongue,  and  thus  aided  the  same 
cause— that   of  the    popularisation   of  science.     Brunetto 
I^tini,  in  his  "  Rettorica,"  translated  into  Italian  the  first 
book  of  Cicero's  "  De  Inventione  "  and  added  an  ample 
commentary  at  the  request  of  a  fellow-countryman  who  had 
shown  him  great  friendship  during  his  sojourn  in  France. 
Bono  Giamboni  translated  the  "  History  "  of  Paulus  Orosius 
and  Flavius  Vegetius's    "Art   of  War."     A  slight   Italian 
compendium  of  the  Rhetoric  "Ad  Herennium,"  that  was  so 
long  attributed  to  Cicero,  is  entitled  "  Fiore  di  Rettorica," 
or  "  Rettorica  Nuova."     It  is  dedicated  to  King  Manfred, 
and  must  therefore  have  been  written  before  1266.     In  most 
of  the  manuscripts  the  author  calls  himself  Fra  Guidotto  da 
Bologna.     If  this  be  correct,  the  language  must  have  been 
strongly  modernised,  as  a  Bolognese  could  not  have  written 
with  such  purity  at  so  early  a  date.     However,  a  manuscript 
of  the  Riccardiana  in  Florence,  which  is,  it  is  true,  not  so 
old  as  the  others,  states  that  Bono  Giamboni  is  the  author, 
and  adds  that  Fra  Guidotto  had  wrongfully  appropriated  the 
work.     Finally,  it  has  been   suggested  that    Fra  Guidotto 
wrote  the  book  in  Latin,  and  that  Giamboni  rendered  it  into 
Italian.     This  question  can  scarcely  be  solved,  and,  in  view 
of  the  insignificance  of  the  little  work,  it  need  not  detain  us 
any  longer.     To  Brunetto  Latini  is  also  attributed,  with  a 
fair  amount  of  certainty,  the  version  of  three  of  Cicero's 
speeches.     It  is  less  safe  to  assume  the  same  authorship  for 
certain  fragments  of  Sallust's  "  Catihne,"  which  Nannucci 
published  in  his  "  Manuale."     For  the  first  two  of  these 
speeches  are  not  translated  from  the  Latin  at  all,  but  from 
the  French  of  the  "  Tresor  "  (lib.  iii.,  pars  i.),  where  they  are 
cited  as  models  for  the  rhetorical  precepts.     It  is  scarcely  to 
be  assumed  that  the  author  of  the  "  Tresor "  himself  took 
them  from  this  passage  ;  more  probably  someone  else  did 
so,  retaining  the  name  and  adding  the  rest  independently. 
The  so-called  *'Etica  di  Aristotile,  compendiata  da  Ser 
Brunetto  Latini "  is  nothing  but  the  sixth  book  of  Giam- 
boni's  translation  of  the  "Trdsor,"  which  will  be  mentioned 
further  on;  this  portion  was  extracted  from  the  complete 


1 82      HISTORY   OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

work  and  made  to  do  duty  as  an  independent  book.  It  is 
the  same  with  another  work  attributed  to  Bono  Giamboni — 
the  "  Delia  Forma  di  Onesta  Vita  di  Martino  Dumense  " : 
this  is  an  extract  of  those  passages  of  Giamboni's  version  of 
the  **  Tresor,"  in  which  Brunetto  had  incorporated  the  pre- 
cepts of  Bishop  Martin  under  Seneca's  name.  But  at  any 
rate  there  was  much  activity  in  this  branch  of  learning, 
and  to  account  for  this  there  must  have  been  a  cor- 
responding desire  of  learning  and  knowledge  on  the  part  of 
the  people.  However,  the  translators  were  by  no  means 
scholarly,  and  it  would  be  vain  to  expect  faithful  reproduc- 
tion from  these  versions :  the  Middle  Ages  were  never  able 
to  proceed  altogether  objectively,  and  when  these  authors  of 
antiquity  appear  in  the  vulgar  tongue  they  are,  in  a  measure, 
travestied. 

What  must  have  given  most  pleasure  in  this  work,  accord- 
ing to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  is  their  moral  aspect,  the  possibility 
of  adapting  the  precepts  and  doctrines  to  practical  life.    This 
accounts  for  the  popularity  of  the  little  book  of  moral  sayings 
(each  of  which  is  contained  in  a  Latin  distich),  which  was 
composed  in  the  third  or  fourth  century  after  Christ,  and 
called  after  Cato,  as  the  type  of  the  severe  sage.     It  was  in 
general  use  as  a  school   book,  which    served  the   double 
purpose  of  instructing  the  young  student  in  the  rudiments 
of  Latin  and  of  showing  him  the  paths   of  virtue.     The 
former  object  is  clear  from  the  old  translation  into  the 
Venetian   dialect,    belonging    to   the   second   half    of  the 
thirteenth  century,  which  slavishly  follows  word  for  word, 
and  with  some  bad  mistakes  also,  not  the  original  text,  but 
a  Latin  prose  paraphrase  of  the  sayings,  into  which  a  number 
of  errors  had  already  crept ;  from  which  it  follows  that  the 
teacher  himself  did  not  possess  an  adequate  knowledge  of 
the  language  which  he  desired  to  impart  to  his  pupils  by 
means  of  this  version.      Three  other  Tuscan  translations 
which  were  edited  by  Michele  Vannucci,  probably  belong  to 
a  later  period.     Practical  and  didactic  in  aim  were  also  the 
collections  of  the  sayings  and  deeds  of  famous  men,  such  as 
the  one   that   is  entitled    "  Fiore   di   Filosofi   et  di  molti 
Savi    antichi,"    which    was,    in    common    with    so    many 
other  works,  wrongly  attributed  to  Brunetto  Latini.     This 
little   book    gives    accounts,    in   short,   rapid    traits,   after 


i 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY   PROSE   LITERATURE      183 

the  manner  of  the  "  Novellino  "  (three  of  the  stories  of  which 
are  here  reproduced),  of  divers  famous  men  of  antiquity, 
Greeks  and  Romans.     First  a  few  words  serve  to  indicate 
who  the  man  was  who  is  to  be  discussed,  and  then  follows 
the    remarkable    and    instructive    deed   or   saying,    or,   in 
some    cases,   several    of  these    deeds    and    sayings.      At 
times  they  are  entirely  fabulous,  especially  those  belonging 
to  Greek  antiquity,  as  this  period  was  far  less  known  in  the 
Middle  Ages  than  the  Roman.     For  the  same  reason  the 
sayings  of  Cicero  and  Seneca  are  most  numerous,  these 
being  the  writers  who  were  then  most  read.     Such  collec- 
tions were  called  Fiori,  because  they  aimed  at  gathering  the 
flower  of  all  that  was  worth  knowing,  and  at  presenting  it  to 
the  reader.     Every  selection  compiled  in  this  manner  was 
called  Fiore   or  Fiorita,  hence  Fra  Guidotto's      Fiore  di 
Rettorica  "—a  compilation  from  the  mass  of  rhetorical  pre- 
cepts :   hence,  too,  the  expression  fion  di  parlare,  which 
occurs  at  the  beginning  of  the  -Novellino"  in  the  sense  of    re- 
markable sayings."    The  narrative  of  the  "  Fiore  di  Filosofi 
is  somewhat  childish,  as  in  the  following  account  of  Socrates : 
"Socrates  was  a  very  great  philosopher  at  that  time,  and  he 
was  very  ugly  to  look  at ;  for  he  was  immoderately  smaU 
and  had  a  hairy  face,  a  broad  flat  nose,  a  bald  sunken  skull, 
neck  and  shoulders  covered  with  hair,  and  legs  thin  and 
bent.     And  he  had  two  wives  at  that  time,  who  scolded  and 
upbraided  each  other  a  great  deal,  for  the  husband  showed 
more  love  on  one  day  to  the  one,  on  another  to  the  other. 
When  Socrates  found  them  quarrelling,  he  urged  them  on  so 
that  they  seized  each  other  by  the  hair,  and  mocked  them 
when  he  saw  them  fighting  for  the  sake  of  so  hideous  a  man. 
And  so  it  happened  one  day  that  they  were  pulling  each 
other  by  the  hair  and  he  was   mocking  them,  and  they 
noticed  this  and  let  go  of  each  other  and  both  fell  over  him 
and  got  him  under  and  pulled  his  hair  so,  that  of  the  few  he 
had  not  a  single  one  remained.    And  he  gets  up  and  begms 
to  run  away,  and  they  after  him  with  sticks,  and  so  they  beat 
him  that  they  left  him  for  dead.    In  consequence  of  this,  he 
departed  with  some  pupils,  and  went  to  a  country  place,  far 
from  men,  so  as  to  be  able  to  study  better,  and  there  he 
wrote  many  books,  from  which  many  sayings  are  drawn. 
The  book  has  come  down  in  several  versions  that  ditter 


I .»! 


184      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

from  one  another,  now  in  form  and  now  in  the  number 
of  the  philosophers  treated,  to  which  one  of  them  adds 
Christian  saints.  BartoH  assumes  that  the  work  is  derived 
from  medieval  Latin  texts,  and  this  is  certain  for  the  one 
section  dealing  with  Secundus  and  his  original  and  pro- 
found definitions :  it  is  a  translation  of  the  corresponding 
chapters  in  the  "Mirror"  ("Speculum  Hist,"  1.  x.,  cap.  70, 
71)  of  Vincentius  Bellovacensis,  or  perhaps  of  the  unknown 
source  of  this  work. 

Not  only  were  the  works  of  Frenchmen  and  those  of 
antiquity  translated,  but  also  such  as  had  been  written  in 
Latin  or  f>ench  by  Italians  themselves,  at  that  time  or  a 
little    earlier.      Albertano,   giudice    of    Brescia,    composed 
three  moral  treatises— the  first,  "  De  Amore  et  Dilectione 
Dei"  in  1238,  when  he  was  the  prisoner  of  the  Emperor 
Frederick  II.  at  Cremona,  after  the  capture  of  the  castle 
Gavardo,  which  was  under  his  command ;  the  second,  "  De 
Arte  Loquendi  et  Tacendi  "  in  1245;  and  the  third,  the 
"Liber  Consolationis  et  Consilii "  in  1246,  or,  according  to 
a  different  estimate,  in  1248.    These  three  works  were  trans- 
lated into  Italian  by  Andrea  da  Grosseto  in  the  year  1268, 
and  soon  after  a  second  version  was  executed  by  Soffredi 
del  Grazia,  a  notary  of  Pistoja,  which  is  contained  in  a 
manuscript  of  the  year  1278.     The  latter  is  the  more  in- 
teresting of  the  two,  both  as  a  monument  of  the  language, 
and   by  reason  of  the  certain  age  of  the  manuscript.     It 
forms  an  authentic  document  of  the  dialect  of  Pistoja  in  the 
thirteenth  century.     As  a  reproduction  of  the  original,  how- 
ever, Andrea's  version  is  far  superior,  and  Soffredi  must  even 
have  known  and  used  it,  for  in  Tract.  IL,  cap.  37-45,  there 
is  a  striking  similarity  between  his  translation  and  that  of 
Andrea,  such  as  cannot  be  accounted  for  merely  by  the 
identity  of  the  Latin  text. 

Albertano's  treatises  are  likewise  a  kind  of  Fiore  or  Fiorita. 
He  begins  by  setting  up  the  moral  precept  and  then  con- 
tinues with  a  very  long  series  of  quotations  from  sacred  and 
secular  texts,  jumbling  together  Solomon  with  Seneca  and 
Ovid,  S.  Paul  and  S.  Augustine  with  Cicero  and  Cato.  He 
has  a  veritable  mania  for  piling  quotation  on  quotation  with- 
out selection  and  without  moderation.  Albertano  is  ex- 
tremely erudite,  and   one   cannot   help  admiring  him  for 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY   PROSE  LITERATURE      f^S 

knowing  so  many  authors  and  for  being  able  to  quote  them. 

But  it  was  the  erudition  of  his  time— a  time  in  which,  as 

Nannucci  remarked,  the  written  word  was  still  identical  with 

the   mfallibly  true  word,   in  which   authority  counted   for 

everything,  the  authority  of  the  Church  and  of  Holy  Writ  on 

the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other,  that  of  the  classical  writers. 

And  all  these  were  revered  in  equal  measure  :  there  was  no 

distinction  made  between  them.     A  saying  of  one  of  these 

great  men  was  tantamount  to  a  proof.     But  these  sayings 

themselves  were  often,  with  a  great  lack  of  intelligence, 

taken  out  of  their  proper  context,   so  that,  for  example, 

Seneca  and  Cicero  are  made  to  testify  to  the  value  of  the 

Christian  faith,  whereas  they,  when  they  said/^^^,  of  course 

meant  fidelity  and  honesty  ("  De  Dilect.,"  cap  iv.).    No  one 

saw   anything   inappropriate   in    supporting    the    Christian 

doctrines  by  the  authority  of  Pagan  writers.     Add  to  this 

the  inadequate  acquaintance  with  the  language  and  customs 

of  so  remote  an  age,  and  the  final  result  of  these  learned 

studies  was  a  singularly  distorted  image  of  that  antiquity 

which  people  thought  they  knew  so  well,  which  was  so 

greatly  admired,  and  which  served  at  the  same  time  as  a 

brilliant  monument  of  past  glory,  and  as  an  ideal  model  for 

the  present. 

The  whole  of  the  third  treatise,  the  "  Liber  Consolationis," 
is  clothed  in  the  form  of  a  narrative  concerning  Melibeus 
and  his  wife  Prudentia.  The  house  of  Melibeus  has,  in  his 
absence,  been  attacked  by  his  enemies,  his  wife  beaten  and 
his  daughter  wounded.  He  is  full  of  wrath  and  desires  to 
avenge  himself.  The  wise  Prudentia  opposes  such  a  course, 
and  now  follow  her  precepts  as  to  the  manner  in  which  one 
has  to  consider  one's  actions  and  deal  with  prudence  and 
moderation.  She  succeeds  in  convincing  her  husband,  so 
that  he  forgives  his  enemies  and  becomes  reconciled  to 
them.  This  appears  to  us  an  insipid  story,  and  the  long 
sermons  of  the  moralist,  that  are  pedantically  divided  and  over- 
loaded with  quotations,  seem  to  us  unendurable  in  the 
mouth  of  a  woman.  But  it  is  just  for  these  very  qualities 
that  the  treatise  was  more  popular  than  the  others ;  it  was 
translated,  by  itself,  into  other  European  languages,  and  a 
portion  of  it  was  introduced  by  Chaucer  into  his  "  Canter- 
bury Tales".     For    people  were  fond  of  every  kind   of 


I 


1 86      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

moralising  narrative  :  the  practical  exemplification  appeared 
to  give  life  to  the  precepts  and  thus  made  them  more  at- 
tractive to  the  public. 

Of  a  moral  treatise  that  was  formerly  very  highly  esteemed, 
the    '*De   Regimine   Principum "   of    the   famous    Egidio 
Romano  (which  he  had  written  for  his  pupil,  PhiUp  the  Fair 
of  France)  there  is  a  translation  belonging  to  the  year  1288, 
which,  however,  was  not  made  from  the  original   Latin, 
but  from  an  earlier  French  version  of  this  work.     And  froni 
the  French  too.  Bono  Giamboni,  the  most  industrious  of 
all  the  translators  of  that  time,  rendered  into  Italian  Bru- 
netto  Latini's  great  *'  Trdsor."   Bono  is  named  in  a  document 
of  the   year    1264  as   the  son  of  Messer  Giambono   del 
Vechio,  and  as  giudice  del  popolo  di  S.  Broco/o ;  in  1282  he 
was  judge  of  a  different  quarter  of  Florence,  the  Sesfo  dt 
Porta  S.  Pietro,  and  as  late  as  the  year  1296  his  name  occurs 
in   notarial   documents.     These  dates  were   given   by  tr. 
Tassi  in  the  introduction  to  his  edition  of  three  treatises 
attributed  to  Giamboni—"  Delia  Miseria  dell' Uomo,   \  Giar- 
dino  di  Consolazione,"and"Introduzione  alle  Virtu  "(Firenze, 
1836).     If  these  works  are  really  his.  Bono  must  be  con- 
sidered a  master  of  style  for  his  time :  his  prose  is  already 
more  rounded  and  fuller,  it  is  clear,  simple,  and  fluent,  so 
that  it  may  still  be  read  with  pleasure.     It  is  true  that  this 
very  fact  increases  one's  suspicion  that  these  treatises  might 
be  by  a  writer  of  the  following  century  :  but  until  the  doubts 
that  have  been  expressed  are  changed  to  certainty,  the  three 
works,  which  deserve  closer  examination,  must  be  discussed 
in  this  place.     Two  of  them  are  certainly  again  translations 
or  new  versions  of  older  works.     In  the  case  of  the  "  Giar- 
dino  della  Consolazione,"  the  editor  Tassi  discovered  the 
original  in  an  unprinted  Latin  treatise—"  Viridarium  Con- 
solationis."     It  is  a-  collection  of  didactic  precepts  in  the 
manner  of  the  Fiori,  and  is  called  "  Garden  of  Consolation 
"  because,  as  one  solaces  oneself  in  the  garden  and  finds 
many  flowers  and  fruits,  so  in  this  work  there  are  many  and 
beautiful  sayings  that  will  soothe  and  solace  the  soul  of  the 
pious  reader,  and  he  will  find  there  many  flowers  and  fruits. 
Here  we  see  the  same  excessive  quantity  of  quotations  that 
we  remarked  in  Albertano  ;  but  the  classical  authorities  are 
not  so  often  jumbled  together  with  those  of  the  Bible  and 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY   PROSE   LITERATURE      1 87 

of  the  Fathers  and  Doctors  of  the  Church.  The  second 
ascetic  treatise,  "  Delia  Miseria  dell'  Uomo,"  describes  the 
wretched  condition  of  mankind  in  this  earthly  vale  of  misery, 
and  shows  how  one  may  save  oneself  from  it  and  attain  the 
better  fatherland.  The  model  of  this  work  was,  as  was  also 
proved  by  Tassi,  the  book  of  Pope  Innocent  III.,  "  De 
Contemptu  Mundi  seu  de  Miseria  Humanae  Conditionis  ;  " 
but  the  author  here  allowed  himself  freer  scope,  frequently 
changed  the  arrangement  of  the  observations,  and  added 
something  of  his  own. 

It  was  the  aim  of  such  compilations  and  translations  to 
popularise  what  was  then  called  philosophy.  The  spirit  and 
intention  were  the  same  as  with  the  religious  poetry  :  the  goal 
was  the  attainment  of  the  highest  good,  liberation  from  sin 
and  salvation  of  the  soul.  The  narratives  of  the  monks,  the 
sacred  songs,  and  the  primitive  theatrical  representations, 
were  intended  rather  for  the  lower  classes  of  the  people, 
while  the  moral  treatises,  and  the  teachings  of  philosophy 
were  for  the  more  cultivated.  A  book  belonging  to  the  end 
of  the  classical  period  had  exercised  a  great  influence  on 
the  philosophical  literature  of  the  Middle  Ages — namely,  the 
"  Consolatio  Philosophise  "  of  Boethius.  The  author  wrote 
it  in  prison,  shortly  before  his  execution,  and  in  it  he 
related  how  he,  when  on  the  verge  of  despair  at  his  miser- 
able condition,  beheld  a  majestic  apparition,  Philosophy, 
who  came  to  console  him,  by  reminding  him  of  the  vanity 
of  all  earthly  things,  and  by  pointing  out  to  his  soul  a  higher 
good.  This  direct  connection  with  the  author's  fate,  in 
which  so  many  unhappy  people  saw  their  own  condition 
mirrored,  coupled  with  the  nobility  and  warmth  of  the 
exposition,  and  the  clearness  of  the  fundamental  ideas, 
could  not  fail  to  render  the  book  specially  effective. 
It  was  widely  read,  and  was  a  solace  to  many.  Henricus 
Septimellensis  had  imitated  it,  as  we  have  seen,  and  thus  it 
also  served  as  a  model  for  the  most  interesting  of  the  three 
treatises  attributed  to  Giamboni,  the  "  Introduzione  alle 
Virtu."  "  When  I  once  considered  my  condition,"  so  the 
work  begins,  "  and  weighed  my  fate  within  myself,  when  I 
suddenly  saw  myself  fallen  from  a  happy  state  to  one  of 
misery,  I  began  imitating  the  lamentations  of  Job,  in  his 
wretchedness,  to  curse  the  hour  and  the  day  when  I  was 


1 88      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 


THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  PROSE  LITERATURE      1 89 


born  and  entered  this  unhappy  life,  and  the  food  that  had 
nourished  and  preserved  me  in  this  world."     He  despairs, 
and  knows  not  how  he  is  to  save  himself  from  so  much 
anguish  ;  thereupon  he  hears  a  voice  that  reproves  him,  and 
beholds  a  splendid  figure,  Madonna  Filosofia.     She  cleanses 
his  eyes  of  the  crust  that  has  formed  in  them  from  the  un- 
cleanness  of  earthly  things.      She  deals  with  him  just  as 
Philosophy  does  with  Boethius,  speaks  to  him  at  times  in 
the  very  words  of  Boethius,  as  though  he  were  her  disciple, 
"  whom  she  had  from  the  beginning  weaned  with  her  milk, 
and  then  nourished  and  brought  up  with  her  bread,"  and 
she  admonishes  him  to  raise  his  look  and  his  soul.     How- 
ever,  this  figure  of.  Philosophy,  which,   at   the   outset,  re- 
sembles so  closely  that  of  the  Roman  author,  is  soon  found 
to    differ    essentially    from    it.      Although    Boethius    was 
himself   a  Christian,  yet    his  philosophical  ideas   are  still 
those  of  classical  antiquity.     His  arguments  deal  only  with 
the  reasons  of  the  intellect,  from  which  are  also  deduced  the 
existence  and  the  essence  of  God.      Reward  and  punish- 
ment in  the  next  world  need  not  be  considered;   virtue 
brings  with  it  its  own  reward,  vice  its  own  punishment,  accord- 
ing to  the  doctrine  of  the  Pagan  philosophy,  and  though 
Boethius  mentions  Hell  and  Purgatory,  he  only  does  so  in 
order  to  show  that  they  may  be  left  out  of  account.     Such  a 
decided  separation  of  faith  and  philosophy  was  impossible 
for    Giamboni;   with  him  they  remain  closely  bound   to- 
gether.    Faith  alone  was  the  key  to  Heaven,  and  thought 
was  subordinated  to  it.     The  dogmas  of  Christianity  stood 
firm   and  unchangeable;    they  were,   by   anticipation,   the 
result  that  must  necessarily  follow  from   every   argument. 
And  so  nothing  remained  for  philosophy  but  this  method 
of  argumentation.     It  was  the  sole  business  of  this  science 
to  give  these  arguments  their  form,  and  to  find  for  them 
logical  supports — or  what  then  appeared  to  be  logical  sup- 
ports—nothing, in    short,   beyond   labouring  in  the   lower 
regions   among    the    foundations,   while  above   these    the 
edifice  was  completely  finished,  and  did  not  require  these 
fresh  supports  for  itself.     The  people  merely  accepted  the 
dogmas,  and  believed  them  without  further  ado.     The  more 
cultured  were  not  satisfied  with  this,  they  required  proofs,  or, 
at  any  rate,  the  appearance  of  proofs ;  but  with  these,  too, 


the  building  would  soon  have  tumbled  down  without  faith, 
so  that  this  distinction  between  the  two  classes  was  formal 
rather  than  substantial. 

If  we  follow  the  exposition  in  the  "  Introduzione  alle 
Virtu,"  we  find  a  confirmation  and  illustration  of  what  has 
been  said.  Philosophy  begins  by  asking  the  author  for  the 
reason  of  his  great  sadness,  and  he  replies  at  first  that  it  is 
the  loss  of  the  blessings  of  fortune,  of  worldly  splendour  and 
fame.  But  she  proves  to  him  the  vanity  of  such  things. 
What,  she  says,  is  the  goal  of  the  human  race,  and  why  did 
God  set  it  on  the  earth  ?  He  created  men  so  as  to  fill  with 
them  the  empty  seats  of  those  angels  who  were  hurled 
with  Lucifer  from  Heaven  to  perdition.  However,  the 
wealth  and  honour  of  the  world  are  diametrically  opposed 
to  this  aim,  and  instead  of  lamenting,  he  should  rejoice  at 
their  loss.  And  when  he  goes  on  complaining  that  he  has 
lost  also  the  blessings  of  nature,  that  he  is  ill  and  miserable, 
she  tells  him  that  he  may  console  himself :  for  this  world  is 
a  valley  of  tears,  a  kind  of  purgatory,  given  to  man,  "  so  that 
he  may  here  be  able  to  weep  and  cleanse  himself  of  his 
sins,"  and  he  who  suffers  with  patience  and  humility  shall 
come  to  possess  Paradise.  "The  tribulation  and  anguish 
of  the  world  are  the  punishments  of  God,"  which  He  inflicts 
out  of  love,  as  a  father  on  his  children.  The  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  is  the  "  natural  and  permanent  goal "  of  men,  their 
"  native  land,"  and  the  whole  of  life  is  nothing  but  a  struggle 
for  the  attainment  of  this  true  fatherland.  The  way  to 
Heaven  is  narrow  and  wearisome ;  but  there  are  friends  who 
lovingly  guide  us  over  it.  The  author  begs  Philosophy 
to  make  him  acquainted  with  these  good  friends.  They 
appoint  a  day,  and  when  he  has  come  they  mount  their 
horses  and  start  on  the  journey.  They  reach  a  meadow, 
where  they  behold  a  beautiful  spring  in  the  shade  of  a  pine 
tree,  and  near  at  hand  they  find  the  palace  of  Christian 
faith,  whose  walls  are  of  gold  and  precious  stones.  Fede 
is  seated  on  a  wonderful  stool,  teaching  many  people  that 
surround  her.  When  she  sees  Filosofia  enter,  she  wishes  to 
humble  herself.  But  the  former  does  not  permit  this,  takes 
her  by  the  hand,  embraces  her  with  tears  of  joy,  and  asks 
her  :  "My  daughter  Fede^  how  art  thou  faring  in  the  service 
and  grace  of  God  ?  "     And  she  said  :    "  Very  well,  when  I 


V 


\  w 


IQO      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY   PROSE   LITERATURE      I9I 


I 


am  accompanied  by  thee  :  for  without  thy  company,  one 
cannot  recognise  God,  nor  do  aught  that  is  good."  And 
the  other  said  :  "  And  Httle  would  my  knowledge  avail  me, 
if  it  were  not  for  thy  faith  "  (cap.  15).  In  this  way  did  the 
author  in  this  scene  express  the  relations  between  philosophy 
and  religion,  as  they  were  in  an  age  when  men  wished  to  philo- 
sophise while  believing,  and  to  believe  while  philosophising. 
In  the  palace  of  Fede  they  take  their  evening  meal ; 
thereupon  the  author  has  to  undergo  an  examination  in  the 
articles  of  faith,  and  finally  they  go  to  bed.  The  next 
morning  they  again  set  out  and  reach  a  mountain,  from 
which  they  see  a  large  plain,  and  many  people  armed  for 
battle.  It  is  the  virtues  on  the  one  side,  and  the  vices  on 
the  other.  They  order  their  armies  in  lines  of  battle — here, 
the  seven  principal  vices  under  the  chief  command  of  Pride ; 
there,  the  four  cardinal  virtues,  as  captains,  with  the  sub- 
ordinate vices  and  virtues  as  leaders  of  the  single  battalions ; 
and,  in  the  meantime.  Philosophy  tells  her  pupil  the  names, 
and  explains  the  personifications  he  sees  before  him.  Fede 
Cristiana  appears  in  order  to  support  the  virtues,  and,  in  a 
series  of  combats,  she  overcomes  first.  Idolatry,  then  the  Fede 
di  Giudea^  then  the  Heresies,  and,  finally,  Mohammedanism, 
after  the  latter  had  long  been  victorious.  Again  Philosophy 
explains  to  the  author-spectator  the  allegorical  meaning  of 
all  that  is  taking  place.  It  is  a  kind  of  symbolical  history  of 
the  Church.  Fede  triumphs.  The  virtues  now  begin  the 
battle  against  their  enemies.  Superbia  is  overthrown,  falling 
into  the  pit  that  has  been  dug  by  Frode ;  the  rest  flee  to 
Hell.  Fazienza  moralises  over  the  corpse  of  Superbia^  and 
Carita  distributes  the  booty  among  the  poor.  The  idea  of 
this  battle  of  the  vices  and  virtues,  both  in  general  and  in 
many  particulars,  is  borrowed  from  a  poem  of  Prudentius, 
the  "  Psychomachia,"  which,  under  the  image  of  such  a 
combat,  allegorically  depicts  the  struggle  between  good  and 
evil  in  the  soul  of  man.  However,  the  author  treated  his 
original  as  freely  as  when  he  was  making  use  of  the  work  of 
Boethius.  After  the  victory.  Philosophy  descends  with  the 
author  into  the  plain,  in  order  to  present  to  him  the  virtues, 
the  promised  friends.  These  begin  by  admonishing  him, 
each  with  its  particular  precepts ;  and,  finally,  he  is  received 
and  inscribed  as  their  faithful  follower. 


We  have,  therefore,  in  this  book,  the  fundamental  idea 
of  religious  and  moral  literature — the  liberation  of  the  soul 
from  earthly  captivity — in  the  form  of  an  allegorical  journey, 
with  the  personifications  of  the  psychological  phenomena, 
and  of  Philosophy,  who  plays  the  part  of  guide  and  in- 
terpreter. The  Middle  Ages  had,  in  general,  a  strong  pre- 
dilection for  allegory  and  symbolism,  and  this  arose  from 
the  nature  of  the  literary  themes  themselves :  the  spiritual 
and  abstract  subject-matter  could  not  be  plastically  treated 
with  palpable  images.  The  same  cause  that  had  introduced 
the  allegorical  and  symbolical  form  into  religion,  operated 
in  the  case  of  literature :  allegory  makes  its  appearance 
when  the  subject  cannot  be  expressed  by  the  expedients  of 
art,  so  that  one  is  compelled  to  say  one  thing  and  to  under- 
stand by  it  something  different.  But  then  one  does  not 
limit  oneself  to  employing  this  form  only  where  it  is  com- 
pulsory. One  comes  to  take  pleasure  in  it  for  its  own  sake 
— in  its  mysterious  and  enigmatical  qualities,  that  cannot  be 
grasped  by  the  mind  save  with  difficulty;  and  so  allegory 
becomes  the  means  of  concealing  in  poetry  intellectual 
ideas,  or,  vice  versa^  of  clothing  the  dry  propositions  of 
science  and  morals  superficially,  at  least,  in  a  poetic  garb. 


ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC   POETRY,  ETC. 


193 


IX 

THE  Al^EGORICO-DIDACTIC  POETRY  AND  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL 
LYRICS    OF   THE    NEW    FLORENTINE   SCHOOL 

nPHE  real  home  of  the  allegorical  and  didactic  poetry  at 
-■-  that  time  was  France,  where  its  development  was  prob- 
ably largely  due  to  the  Latin  allegorical  treatises  of  Alanus  de 
Insulis.  The  most  important  product  of  this  poetical  manner 
was  the  "  Roman  de  la  Rose,"  the  first  part  of  which  had  been 
written  by  Guillaume  de  Lorris  not  long  before,  and  which  was 
being  continued  by  Jehan  de  Meung  just  at  this  time  (after 
1268).  This  "Romance  of  the  Rose"  is,  in  the  form  of  a  vision, 
an  allegorical  representation  of  love,  with  its  changing  joys  and 
sorrows.  In  it  abstractions  appear  personified — the  faculties 
and  passions  of  the  soul,  quaHties,  virtues,  the  conditions 
that  are  opposed  and  favourable  to  love,  pleasures,  happi- 
ness, liberality,  courtesy,  reason,  wealth,  fair  mien,  friendly 
welcome,  shame,  fear,  calumny,  prudery,  jealousy,  and  the 
like;  and  these  represent  a  varied  and  vivacious  drama, 
speaking  and  acting.  With  Guillaume  de  Lorris  there  are 
few  traces  of  a  didactic  aim  ;  but  in  Jehan  de  Meung  there 
is  a  preponderance  of  didactic  and  satirical  matter,  touching, 
as  he  does,  every  possible  aspect  of  life,  with  his  endless  and 
superficial  digressions.  The  poem  met  with  extraordinary 
success,  also  in  other  countries,  and  was  much  imitated.  A 
Tuscan  poet,  Ser  Durante,  reproduced  it  with  great  freedom 
and  notable  skill  in  a  corona  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-two 
sonnets,  retaining  only  the  main  narrative  of  the  allegorical 
love-quest,  omitting  the  digressions  and  removing  much  of 
the  prolixity.  This  poem,  which  the  editor  called  **I1 
Fiore,"  because  it  speaks  only  of  a  flower  in  the  place  of 
the  rose,  belongs  probably  to  the  beginning  of  the  four- 
teenth century.  However,  a  considerable  influence  of  the 
"  Romance  of  the  Rose  "  and  kindred  productions  is  to  be 


noted  much  earlier.  The  longer  Italian  allegorical  poems, 
which  were  composed  in  the  second  half  of  the  thirteenth, 
and  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century,  plainly  stand  in 
close  relation  to  them.  Brunetto  Latini's  "  Tesoretto " 
shows  the  French  influence  in  the  manner  of  its  personifica- 
tions^ in  its  language,  which  contains  a  number  of  specifically 
French  expressions,  as  also  in  its  metrical  form.  The  poem 
is  written  in  lines  of  seven  syllables,  rhyming  in  pairs,  that 
is  to  say,  in  a  metre  that  approaches  as  nearly  as  possible 
the  couplets  of  eight  syllables,  which  were  employed  in 
ProvenQal  and  French  narrative  and  didactic  poetry.  It  is 
even  probable  that  the  "  Tesoretto  '  was  composed  in  France, 
and  the  work  is  dedicated  to  some  very  exalted  personage, 
who  is  supposed  by  Zannoni  to  be  Saint  Lewis. 

Brunetto  Latini  was  not  endowed  with  the  poetical  gifts 
of  a  man  like  Guillaume  de  Lorris,  and  his  allegories  lack 
all  grace  and  vitality;  he  is  a  scholar  even  in  his  verses, 
which  are  made  to  express  the  dry  learning  of  the  schools, 
in  a  bald  and  sometimes  clumsy  manner.  The  author,  who, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  sent  to  Spain  as  Florentine  legate, 
relates  how,  on  his  return  from  that  country,  he  met  a 
student  of  Bologna,  who  told  him  the  sad  news  of  the 
defeat  at  Monteaperti  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Guelphs, 
and  how  his  grief  at  the  misfortunes  of  his  native  city,  rent 
in  twain  by  party  strife,  was  so  great,  that  he  lost  his  way 
and  took  a  path  through  the  midst  of  a  wild  forest.  When 
the  sorrow,  that  held  his  soul  captive,  allowed  him  to  turn 
his  mind  again  to  outward  things,  he  sees,  round  about  the 
mountain,  all  kinds  of  creatures,  men,  animals,  and  plants, 
following  the  beck  of  a  noble  lady.  This  is  Nature,  that 
is  described,  with  touches  which  at  first  recall  Boethius' 
philosophy,  but  afterwards  in  a  petty  and  tasteless  manner, 
with  all  the  details  of  feminine  beauty —the  hair,  brow,  eyes, 
lips,  teeth,  and  so  on.  She  instructs  the  poet  in  various 
points  concerning  the  essence  of  herself,  that  is,  of  Nature, 
and  her  relation  to  God,  concerning  the  creation  of  objects, 
the  angels,  and  the  fall  of  the  proud  among  them,  concern- 
ing man,  the  soul  and  its  powers,  the  body  and  the  five 
senses,  the  four  elements  and  the  four  temperaments,  the 
seven  planets  and  the  twelve  constellations  of  the  sun's  course. 
From  astronomical  subjects  a  very  clumsy  transition  is  made 

I.  o 


N 


194      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

to  geography.  Nature  leaves  the  author.  She  must  depart  in 
order  to  act  and  operate  throughout  the  world,  and  these 
operations  of  hers  he  now  sees  with  his  own  eyes.  At  her 
command  he  beholds  the  chief  rivers,  of  which  there  are 
four,  that  is,  the  four  rivers  that  spring  from  Paradise ;  they 
are  named,  and,  at  the  same  time,  also  the  countries  through 
which  they  flow.  The  mention  of  the  East  gives  occasion 
for  the  enumeration  of  a  number  of  spices  and  animals. 
What  follows  is  again  introduced  in  a  remarkably  awkward 
manner  (xi.  loi): 

Poi  vidi  inimantenente 

La  reina  potente 

Che  spendea  la  mano 

Ver  lo  mare  oceano. 

This  enables  him  to  speak  of  the  ocean,  of  the  pillars  of 
Hercules,  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  and  of  several  countries 
and  cities  that  lay  round  its  shores.  Finally,  he  sees  the  habits 
of  all  animals.  But  Nature  now  bids  him  continue  his 
journey.  He  again  rides  through  a  wild  and  pathless  wood, 
and  reaches  a  lovely  plain,  where  an  empress  rules  over 
many  princes  and  wise  men;  this  is  Virtue,  whose  four 
daughters  are  queens,  the  four  cardinal  virtues,  the  various 
abodes  of  which  he  visits  one  after  the  other.  This  separa- 
tion from  Nature  and  her  teaching,  and  the  visit  to  Virtue, 
therefore  signifies  the  transition  from  the  theoretical  first, 
the  psychical  part,  to  the  practical  second  part,  dealing  with 
t^  ethics.  The  entire  poem,  so  far,  is,  as  will  be  seen,  nothing 
V^V^  but  an  extract  from  the  first  and  second  books  of  the 
jAr^  "Tresor."     At  the  beginning,  the  identity  with  individual 

\  ir^A^  passages  of  the  French  work  is  so  exact,  that  these  may  be 
used  to  correct  the  Italian  text.  Also  the  order  of  the  sub- 
jects treated  is  the  same  as  in  the  "Tr^sor,"  save  that,  in 
the  poem,  several  sections  of  the  encyclopaedia  are  dealt 
with  very  rapidly  or  entirely  omitted,  for  the  reason  that  the 
author  found  the  exposition  in  rhyme  too  difficult;  how- 
ever, he  had  the  intention  of  making  good  the  parts  that 
were  here  left  out,  in  a  prose  treatise  at  the  end  of  the  work, 
as  he  himself  repeatedly  stated.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
ethical  portion  of  the  *'  Tesoretto  "  is  augmented  by  a  section 
not  contained  in  the  "Tresor"— the  precepts  of  Larghezza, 
Cortesia,  Leanza  and  Frodezza.     The  poet  meets  these  four 


ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC  POETRY,  ETC. 


I9S 


virtues  in  the  house  of  Giusthia,  and  listens  to  the  admoni- 
tions they  address  to  a  knight.  The  last  of  these,  which 
fill  four  considerable  chapters  (xv.-xviii.),  thus  form  a  long 
didactic  poem  on  decorum  and  on  prudent  and  decent 
conduct  in  the  world.  At  the  close  of  the  sermons  the  poet 
departs  with  the  knight.  The  latter  returns  to  his  native 
land,  while  Master  Brunetto  continues  on  his  way,  in  order 
to  seek  Ventura  and  Amore,  as  Nature  had  ordered  him  to 
do.  He  comes  to  a  meadow  filled  with  flowers,  where  he 
finds  many  people,  some  gay,  some  sad.  These  are  ruled 
by  a  naked  youth,  who  is  armed  with  a  bow  and  arrows,  but 
is  blind — il  Piacere.  Together  with  him  are  four  ladies, 
Faura,  Desianza^  Amore  and  Speranza^  that  is,  the  four 
passions  that  are  united  in  love,  while  the  latter  itself, 
according  to  the  shallow  old  theory  of  the  Provengal  and 
Sicilian  lyrical  poets,  is  assumed  to  derive  from  Fiacere. 
Brunetto,  too,  falls  under  the  power  of  Amore^  and  feels  him- 
self rooted  to  the  spot ;  however,  Ovid,  the  author  of  the 
'*  Remedia  Amoris  ",  instructs  him  in  the  means  of  escape. 
He  crosses  the  mountain  and  reaches  the  plain.  But  what 
he  has  seen  and  experienced  causes  him  to  turn  from  his 
worldly  Ufe  to  God  and  to  the  saints.  He  therefore  in- 
terrupts the  narrative  with  an  ascetic  sermon  on  the  vanity 
of  the  world,  bewails  his  many  sins,  tells  how  he  has  con- 
fessed to  the  good  monks  at  Montpellier,  and  admonishes 
a  friend  to  do  likewise  and  to  look  to  his  soul.  He  returns 
into  the  wood  and  rides  so  long,  till  he  one  morning  finds 
himself  on  the  summit  of  Mount  Olympus.  There  he  be- 
holds an  aged  man,  with  a  white  face  and  a  white  beard. 
This  is  Ptolemy,  who  now  begins  his  teaching.  That  is  to 
say,  the  promised  prose  treatise  on  the  seven  liberal  arts 
was  to  follow,  one  of  which,  namely,  that  on  Astronomy,  is 
Ptolemy's  province.  However,  this  prose  section  is  missing, 
and  was  in  all  probability  never  written.  As  may  be  gathered 
from  a  passage  (xiv.  83,  sqq.),  the  "Tesoretto"  was  to  be  a 
compendium  of  the  great  encyclopaedia,  written  in  Italian, 
more  concisely  and  intelligibly,  for  readers  of  less  culture ; 
and,  for  the  same  reason,  it  was  to  be  clothed  in  verse  and 
allegory,  so  as  to  make  science  more  attractive  to  the 
general  public.  The  same  passage  shows  that  it  was  written 
while  the  author  was  occupied  with  the  "Tr^sor."     After 


196      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

finishing  the  latter  he  may  have  lost  the  inclination  to 
continue  a  second  treatment  of  the  same  themes  in  the 
"  Tesoretto,"  which  accordingly  remained  unfinished. 

Another  poet  of  the  didactic  and  allegorical  school,  Fran- 
cesco da  Barberino,  was  influenced  not  only  by  French,  but 
also  by  Provencal  models.  He,  too,  lived  for  a  time  in 
I'Yance.  He  was,  if  we  may  trust  the  data  given  by  Filippo 
Villani,  the  son  of  a  certain  Neri  di  Rinuccio,  born  in  1 264, 
at  Barberino,  a  small  town  in  Val  d'Elsa.  He  devoted 
himself  to  the  study  of  law,  and  appears  in  a  Bolognese 
document  of  the  year  1294  with  the  title  of  notary.  From 
1297  to  1304  he  was  in  Florence,  as  episcopal  notary. 
Between  1309  and  1313  he  travelled  in  the  South  of  France, 
on  important  business,  the  nature  of  which  is  not  known, 
and  frequently  stayed  at  the  courts  of  Clement  V.  and  of 
Philip  the  Fair.  ()n  his  return  he  acquired  the  title  of  a 
doctor  utriusque  juris  (there  it  no  testimony  of  this  till  the 
year  13 18),  and  settled  in  Florence.  He  did  not  die  till  1348, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  plague  which  was  then  raging,  and 
which  carried  off  so  many  distinguished  men.  Francesco  da 
Barberino  availed  himself  to  the  full  of  the  opportunity  given 
him  in  France  of  studying  more  closely  the  literature  of  the 
Provencals.  He  shows  an  acquaintance  with  the  poetry  of 
the  troubadours  such  as  is  possessed  by  scarcely  any  other  of 
his  countrymen  and  contemporaries,  and  very  frequently 
quotes  them  in  his  works,  though,  it  is  true,  he  did  this  in 
such  a  manner  as  accorded  with  his  disposition,  and  always 
with  a  one-sided  regard  for  practical  utility,  without  in  any 
way  understanding  their  aesthetic  value. 

One  of  the  two  great  didactic  poems  of  Francesco  da 
Barberino,  the  "  Documenti  d'Amore,"  was  sketched  and, 
for  the  most  part,  composed  in  Provence  itself,  and  therefore 
between  the  years  1309  and  131 3,  as  was  recently  demon- 
strated by  A.  Thomas.  He  then  completed  the  work  shortly 
after  his  return  to  Italy.     He  begins  with  the  verses  : 

Somma  virtu  del  nostro  sire  Amore 
Lo  mio  intelletto  novamente  accese, 
Che  di  ciascun  paese 
Chiamassi  i  servi  alia  sua  maggior  rocca.* 

*  The  high  power  of  our  sire,  Love,  recently  kindled  my  mind,  that 
from  each  country  I  should  call  the  servants  to  his  greatest  castle. 


ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC  POETRY,  ETC.  1 9/ 

The  author  invites  the  servants  of  Amore  to  assemble 
in  the  latter's  castle.     Amore  then  himself  addresses  Elo- 
quenza.    The  latter  dictates  the  documents  (doctrines)  to  the 
servants,  and  the  author  writes  them  down  and  sends  them 
to  those  that  love,  as  all  were  not  present  at  the  assembly. 
Here  we  have,  in  accordance  with  the  Provencal  doctrine, 
Amore  as  the  source  of  virtue  and  dispenser  of  instruction ; 
and  so  nothing  is  concealed  behind  the  alluring  title  "  The 
Documents  of  Love,"  that  seems  to  promise  so  much,  but 
extremely  monotonous  precepts  on  morality  and  prudence, 
as  in  the  *'  Breviari  d'Amor,"  the  great  didactic  poem  of 
Matfre  Ermengau,  which  was  composed  about  twenty  years 
before  Francesco's  work.     His  precepts  are  scarcely  based 
on  this  poem,  but  frequently  on  other  Provencal  works  that 
were  known  to  him  and  are  now  lost.     The  documents  or 
doctrines  are  arranged  under  twelve  more  general  titles,  such 
as  Docility,  Industria,  Gloria,  Eternity,  and  the  like.    Each 
division  is  preceded  by  a  miniature  (executed  under  the 
author's  direction)  of  the  allegorical  figure  whose  name  it 
bears,  and  this  is  explained  in  the  opening  verses  of  the 
section.    Francesco's  original  manuscript  has  been  preserved 
in  the  Barberini  Library  at  Rome,  with  the  drawings,  a  Latin 
version  of  the  Italian  text   and   a  full  Latin  commentary, 
which  contains  important  remarks  on  Old  Italian  and  Pro- 
vencal literary  history,  and  in  which  the  author,  according  to 
his  own  statement,  has  deposited  the  accumulated  learning 
of  sixteen  years. 

The  other  work  of  Francesco  da  Barberino,  entitled  "  Del 
Reggimento  e  Costumi  di  Donna,"  was  begun  before  the 
"  Documenti,"  but  completed  after  them ;  not  infrequently  it 
refers  to  them,  and  in  one  passage  describes  the  complete 
manuscript  that  contains  them.  The  "  Documenti  "  taught 
virtue  and  morals  in  general.  The  second  work  is  specially 
addressed  to  women  :  this  is  a  subject  which  the  author  had 
omitted  in  the  other  book,  and  which,  as  he  says,  had  never 
been  treated  before.  And,  in  point  of  fact,  although  instruc- 
tions for  the  female  sex  ^/^  exist,  such  as  the  French  "Chastoie- 
ment  des  Dames  "  of  Robert  of  Blois,  still,  these  were  very 
general,  and  cannot  be  compared  with  Francesco's  more 
thorough  and  detailed  treatment.  The  book  consists  of  verses 
that  are  for  the  most  part  rhymeless  and  of  varying  length, 


« 


I 


198      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

mixed  with  prose ;  frequently  the  former  can  scarcely  be  distin- 
guished from  the  latter.  At  the  beginning,  Madonna  requests 
the  poet  to  compose  his  treatise,  and  for  this  purpose  takes 
him  before  Ones  hi,  who  appoints  Eloquenza  and  Indus  tria  to 
guide  his  pen,  and  to  make  use  of  him  as  the  organ  of  their 
doctrines  to  mankind.  Francesco  gives  various  precepts,  on 
the  one  hand  according  to  the  various  ages,  or  as  to  whether 
the  woman  is  married  or  single,  widow  or  nun  ;  on  the  other 
hand  according  to  the  different  conditions,  from  empress  and 
queen  down  to  servant  and  peasant.  In  the  last  of  the 
twenty  sections  (which  are  again  introduced  by  allegorical 
drawings  of  the  virtue  or  quality  appropriate  to  each  case, 
and  by  dialogues  between  the  virtue  in  question  and  the 
woman  to  be  instructed),  we  get  a  series  of  rules  of  life  and 
morals  for  the  entire  sex,  somewhat  badly  arranged  :  here 
the  author  descends  even  to  observations  on  ornament  and 
to  recipes  for  the  preservation  and  increase  of  beauty.  In 
the  prose  pieces  he  usually  tells  moral  tales  in  support  of 
his  doctrines,  insipid  little  stories,  showing  no  great  depth  of 
thought,  some  of  which  he  had  collected  himself  on  his 
journeys  in  France.  Nevertheless,  this  second  work  is  more 
interesting  than  the  first,  because  it  affords  us  a  wider  view 
of  the  manners,  ideas,  and  prejudices  of  the  time.  It  was  a 
severe  and  pedantic  discipline  to  which  honourable  women 
and  girls  of  the  higher  classes  had  to  submit,  and,  in  addition 
to  the  genuine  innocent  goodness  and  purity,  a  good  deal  of 
hypocrisy  and  dissimulation  was  required  of  them. 

From  time  to  time  this  treatise  is  interrupted  by  allegorical 
journeys  of  the  author  to  Madonna,  and  by  conversations 
with  her,  in  which  he  desires  to  refresh  himself  after  his 
labour  and  to  gather  new  inspiration.  Madonfta  is  an  alle- 
gorical being,  a  noble  queen  come  down  from  heaven,  the 
firstborn  daughter  of  the  Highest  (p.  433),  that  was  in  the 
Divine  mind  before  all  other  creatures  (p.  222).  She  diffuses 
light  throughout  the  world,  is  the  enemy  of  ignorance,  the 
sister  and  guide  of  the  virtues.  Through  her  we  see  on 
earth  truth  and  whatever  we  can  apprehend  of  the  Divine 
spirit.  Luce  Eterna  says  she  belongs  to  her  court ;  Carita^ 
Amore,  and  Speranza  show  the  way  that  leads  to  her ;  In- 
telletto  is  her  door-keeper.  "  I  am,"  she  says  (p.  224),  ''  of 
such  a  kind,  that  many  round  about  take  away  from  me,  and 


ALLEGORICO-DID ACTIO  POETRY,  ETC.  199 

I  yet  remain  whole,— I  am  in  heaven  and  on  earth  every- 
where."    She  gives  to  drink  from  a  source  that  never  runs 
dry,  and  rewards  the  author  at  the  close,  when  he  hands  her 
his  book,  with  a  stone  from  her  crown  that  shall  divulge  every- 
thing to  him,  save  the  things  that  God  reserves  for  himself. 
Who  is  this  noble  lady,  whom  the  author  does  not  name,  but 
whom,  as  he  thinks,  we  shall  recognise  from  his  description  ? 
It  was  generally  thought  that  it  was  Wisdom.     But  Borgog- 
noni  showed  that  this  interpretation  cannot  be  correct.    For 
in  the  conversation  between  Madonna  and  Onesta  at  the  be- 
ginning, the  latter  says  to  her  that  she  hopes  Sapienza  with 
many  other  virtues  would  support  the  desired  book  with  their 
aid ;  so  that  Sapienza  is  a  third  person,  and  not  Madonna 
herself,  to  whom  Onesta  is  addressing  these  words.     Bor- 
gognoni  saw  that  Francesco's  allegorical  lady  is  the  universal 
Intelligence,  which,  emanating  directly  from  God,  penetrates 
into  the  universe  by  its  force,  and  illuminates  the  human 
intellect  \ '  this  was  a  philosophical  conception  that  had  gone 
over  from  the  Arabian  commentators  of  Aristotle  (Avicenna 
and  Averrhoes)  into  the  didactic  philosophy,  and  that  formed 
the  subject  of  another  poem,  which  was  composed  about  the 
same  time  and  which  was  called  "La  Intelligenzia "  after  it. 
This  "  Intelligenzia  "  is  a  poem  of  three  hundred  and  nine 
stanzas  in  nona  rima,  that  is,  in  stanzas  of  eight  verses  to 
which  is  added  a  ninth  rhyming  with  the  sixth— a  form  which 
possesses  a  certain  harmonious  effect  by  reason  of  its  cunous 
movement,  returning  within  itself,  and  which  is  well  adapted 
for  the  expression  of  lyrical  sentiment,  as  may  be  seen  from 
the  fifth  stanza : 

E  non  si  pu6  d'amor  proprio  parlare 
A  chi  non  prova  i  suoi  dolzi  savori, 
E  sanza  prova  non  sen  p6  stimare 
Pill  che  lo  cieco  nato  de'  colon. 
E  non  pote  nessuno  mai  amare, 
Se  non  li  fa  di  grazia  servidori ; 
Che  lo  primo  penser  che  nel  cor  sona 
Non  vi  saria,  s'Amor  prima  nol  dona ; 
Prima  fa  i  cor  gentil  che  vi  dimori.^ 

^  Inttlletto  is  her  door-keeper,  that  is  to  say,  the  Intellecius  pssibilis 
absorbs  within  itself  this  Intelligentia  as  Intellectus  agens. 

2  And  of  love  one  cannot  properly  speak  to  him  who  does  not 
experience  its  sweet  charms,  and  without  expenence  one  cannot  esti- 


I 


200     HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 


I 


|i|»l 


However,  in  so  long  a  poem,  and  one  that  is  largely 
narrative,  this  form  of  stanza  becomes  wearisome  after  a 
while.  The  work  commences  with  a  description  of  spring, 
like  so  many  songs  of  the  troubadours,  and  adopting  exactly 
the  same  images  and  expressions  :  indeed,  the  first  two  verses 
are,  as  Nannucci  pointed  out,  translated  straight  from  the 
Proven(,:al.  Then  the  beginning  of  the  poet's  love  is  nar- 
rated, followed  by  a  description  of  his  lady.  In  the  account 
of  her  attire,  the  author's  imagination  displays  an  Oriental 
luxuriousness,  and  the  crown  that  adorns  her  head  furnishes 
occasion  for  the  enumeration,  in  forty-three  stanzas,  of  sixty 
various  jewels,  with  all  their  fabulous  wonders,  as  he  found 
them  in  the  lapidaries  of  his  time.  Farther  on,  he  comes  to 
speak  of  the  palace  inhabited  by  the  lady,  and  describes  this, 
too,  from  chamber  to  chamber,  mostly  according  to  the  plans 
and  specifications  of  the  various  apartments,  as  we  know 
them  from  several  medieval  accounts  of  palaces.  As  he 
intends  dishing  up  for  our  benefit  certain  stories  that  have 
nothing  to  do  with  his  theme,  he  makes  use  of  an  artifice 
which  was  frequently  employed  later  on  by  poets,  but  which 
is  introduced  very  clumsily  in  the  present  case :  he  feigns 
that  there  are  paintings  and  sculptures  on  the  ceiling  and 
walls  of  the  great  hall — Amore  in  the  centre  surrounded  by 
the  famous  lovers,  Paris  and  Helena,  Achilles  and  Polyxena, 
^neas  and  Dido,  and  many  others.  In  another  place  is 
seen  the  whole  history  of  Caesar,  with  the  uninteresting 
recital  of  which  he  fills  one  hundred -and  thirty-nine  stanzas, 
seeking  in  a  measure  to  justify  the  introduction  of  this  un- 
essential feature  by  remarking  now  and  again  that  it  was 
painted  or  sculptured.  He  quotes  Lucan ;  in  reality,  how- 
ever, he  did  not  draw  from  this  source,  but  from  the  trans- 
lation of  the  French  History  of  Caesar  which  has  come  down 
in  the  Ricciardi  manuscript  of  the  year  131 3,  and  which  he 
often  followed  very  closely,  even  in  the  wording.  In  the 
same  way  as  the  history  of  Caesar,  but  in  less  detail,  are  in- 
troduced the  deeds  of  Alexander  and  the  Trojan  war,  and, 

mate  them  any  more  than  he  who  is  born  blind  can  estimate  colours. 
And  no  one  can  ever  love,  if  love  does  not  make  him  the  servant  of 
grace  ;  for  the  first  thought  that  sounds  in  the  heart  would  not  be  there 
if  Amore  does  not  first  give  it ;  it  makes  the  hearts  noble  before  taking 
up  its  abode  in  them. 


ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC   POETRY,   ETC.  201 


finally,  two  stanzas  are  devoted  to  the  Round  Table,  these 
passages  being  likewise  based  on  French  works  or  on  Italian 
versions  of  them.     After  this  enormous  digression,  which 
fills  two-thirds  of  the  poem,  the  author  returns  to  his  lady, 
describes  the  festal  joy  that  reigns  in  her  mansion,  the  con- 
fession of  his  love  after  he  had  been  encouraged  by  Madonna 
and  Amore,  and  finally,  more  generous  in  this  than  Fran- 
cesco da  Barberino,  himself  discloses  to  us  the  secrets  that 
are  concealed  under  his  allegory.     His  lady  is,  as  we  have 
already  said,  the  Intelligenza,  who,  standing  before  God's 
throne,   by  means  of  the  angels  that  move  the  heavens, 
spreads  her  vivifying  influence  throughout  the  world,  and 
takes  up  her  abode  in  the  human  intellect.     Her  palace  is 
the  soul  with  the   body;   the   great  hall,   the   heart;   the 
winter  and   summer    rooms,   the   liver    and    spleen;    the 
kitchen,  the  stomach  ;  the  sculptures  and  paintings  are  the 
beautiful  memories  that  fill  the  human  mind;  the  chapel 
signifies  the  faith  in  God  ;  the  senses  are  the  main  entrance ; 
the  bones  are  the  outer,  and  the  nerves  the  inner  walls. 
It  is  an  allegory  that  offends  against  every  instinct  of  good 
taste.     The  author  w^as  well  acquainted  with  the  doctrine  of 
Guido  Guinicelli,  and  alluded  several  times  to  the  precept 
concerning  Amore  and  the  cor  gentile^  as,  for  instance,  in  the 
stanza  that  we  have  quoted  (and  again  in  57,  71,  and  297). 
His  own  idea  of  the  love  of  the  Intelligence  might  possibly 
be  an  exaggeration  of  the  conception  of  the  Bolognese  poet 
and  of  his  Florentine  followers,  that  made  the  loved  one  the 
symbol  of  all  that  was  highest  and  noblest,  and  on  the 
strength  of  which  Guido  had  compared  the  influence  of  the 
lady  on  the  lover  to  that  of  the  Deity  on  the  heavenly  in- 
telligences.    But  the  episodes,  first  the  description  of  the 
numerous  precious  stones,  and  then  the  narrative  of  the 
romantic  tales,  attract  the  reader's  attention  far  more  than 
the  fundamental  idea  for  the  embellishment  of  which  they 
were  to  serve ;  and  if  they  were  taken  away,  but  little  would 
remain  of  the  whole.     The  direct  or  indirect  influence  of 
French  sources  is  noticeable  also  in  the  language,  which 
again  shows  several  French  words  and  forms. 

The  first  scholar  who  made  any  portion  of  this  poem 
known,  Francesco  Trucchi,  had  endeavoured  to  see  in  it 
special  beauties  and  a  great  antiquity,  with  that  exaggerated 


:  ij 


ii 


\ 


wl 


s^l 


202      HISTORY   OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

enthusiasm  which  discoverers  are  always  inclined  to  display, 
when  they  have  just  unearthed  a  monument.  He  found  in 
it  a  warmth  and  splendour  of  colouring  that  were  quite 
oriental,  and  thought  that  it  must  have  been  composed  in 
Sicily,  under  the  Norman  dynasty,  when  the  Arabian  in- 
fluences were  still  sufficiently  strong.  This  judgment,  for  which 
there  was  absolutely  no  foundation,  was  subsequently  shared 
by  many  who  had  not  read  beyond  the  first  twenty  or  thirty 
stanzas.  That  the  poem  belongs,  at  the  earliest,  to  the  second 
half  of  the  thirteenth  century  is  proved,  as  D'Ancona  showed, 
by  the  above-mentioned  connection  with  the  canzone  of 
Guido  Guinicelli ;  and,  for  the  rest,  there  are  everywhere 
traces  of  the  Proven9al  and  Old  French  literatures,  or  of  the 
philosophical  theories  current  at  the  time.  It  is  true  that 
the  latter  were  derived  from  the  Arabian  commentators  of 
Aristotle.  But  these  were  universally  read  in  the  Latin 
translation,  and  the  author  need  not  even  have  adopted 
them  at  first  hand,  seeing  that  the  ideas  he  made  use  of  had 
been  admitted  into  the  Christian  philosophy  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  that  they  had  been  popularised  especially  by  the 
men  who  opposed  them,  such  as  Albertus  Magnus  and 
Thomas  Aquinas;  we  found  them  also  in  Francesco  da 
Barberino.  There  can  be  no  question  here  of  an  exceptional 
acquaintance  with  Arabian  science,  or  of  a  direct  connection 
with  Oriental  poetry.  If  the  Riccardi  manuscript  containing 
the  history  of  Caesar  which  is  used  in  the  "  Intelligenzia  " 
is  an  autograph,  as  may  be  assumed  with  some  certainty, 
the  poem  would  even  be  later  than  131 3.  One  of  the  two 
old  manuscripts,  that  of  the  Magliabechiana,  actually  gave  at 
the  end  the  name  of  the  author.  There  one  could  read  the 
words:  " Questo  si  chiama  la'ntelligienzia,  lo  quale  fecie 
Dino  Chompag  .  .  ."  These  words  are  now  partly  illegible, 
but  they  were  recently  seen  by  creditable  witnesses :  they 
were  written  by  a  later  hand,  at  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
or  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century.  According  to  this, 
the  work  would  be  by  Dino  Compagni,  the  gon/a/om'ere  of 
the  year  1293,  whose  authorship  of  a  Florentine  chronicle 
now  forms  the  subject  of  a  keen  controversy  and  will 
occupy  us  in  another  place.  As  no  valid  argument  has 
been  brought  to  bear  against  this  attribution  of  the  poem,  it 
may  be  regarded  at  any  rate  as  probably  correct. 


n 


ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC   POETRY,  ETC.  203 

Brunetto  Latini's  "  Tesoretto,"  the  two  works  of  Francesco 
da   Barberino   and   a   portion   of  the   "Intelligenzia"  are 
treatises  in  verse.     In  this  propensity  for  employing  poetry 
for  didactic  themes,  these  Florentine  poets  are  in  agreement 
with  the  tendency  inaugurated  by  Guido  Guinicelli  in  lyrical 
poetry.     In  the  latter,  the  actual  love  passion  becomes  of 
smaller  import,  and  approaches  more  closely  to  allegory,  to 
the  symbolical  expression  of  enthusiasm  for  philosophical 
and   moral  ideas;  while  Francesco  and  the   poet  of  the 
"  Intelligenzia  "  represent  the  zeal  for  virtue  and  knowledge 
under  the  allegory  of  an  amorous  passion  for  Madonna,  who 
is  the  personification  of  an  abstract  idea.     There  is,  how- 
ever,   this   important    difference   between   the   lyrical   and 
didactic  poets :  the  former  began  with  the  concrete  being 
and  then  came  with  the  idea,  while  the  latter  adopted  pre- 
cisely the  opposite  course.     And  so  it  is  intelligible  that  the 
philosophical  lyrical  poetry,  which  had  first  blossomed  in 
Bologna,  should  meet  with   special   success   and   find   its 
principal  imitators  in  Florence,  where,  mainly  through  Bru- 
netto Latini's  example,  an  ardent  zeal  for  scientific  studies 
was  being  displayed,  and  where  didactic  poetry  was  being 
cultivated  with  such  ardour.    It  was  Guido  Cavalcanti,  who, 
according  to  Dante's  judgment  ("Purg.,"xi.  97),  wrested  the 
palm  for  lyrical  art  poetry  from  the  older  Guido.     He  was 
the  most  intimate  friend  of  Dante,  but  older  than  he,  and 
already  a  famous  poet  when  Dante  began  his  literary  career. 
Still,  in  view  of  the  intimate  relations  between  the  two,  there 
cannot  have  been  a  very  great  difference  in  their  ages.     It 
is  true  that,  as  Giovanni  Villani  reports  (vii.  15),  Guido  was, 
in  the  year  1267,  among  those  sons  of  the  nobility,  who,  when 
peace  was  being  made  between  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines, 
were  selected  for  binding  together  the  hostile  families  by 
means  of  intermarriage.     His  father,  Cavalcante  Cavalcanti, 
who  belonged  to  the  Guelph  party,  gave  him  to  wife  Bice  or 
Beatrice,  the  daughter  of  Farinata  degli  Uberti  (who  had 
been   dead   since    1264)— the   magnanimous   head  of  the 
Ghibellines  celebrated  by  Dante.     It  was  therefore  thought 
that  he  must  at  that  time  have  been  of  a  marriageable  age 
of  at  least  twenty;  but  Del  Lungo  proved  that  Villani's 
words  do  not  justify  such  a  conclusion,  and  that  it  was 
merely  a  question  of  an  arrangement  of  marriage,  made  by 


li 


11 


/ 


204      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

the  relatives  for  political  reasons,  while  Guido  was  yet  a 
child,  and  that  the  wife  who  was  then  selected  for  him  did 
not  actually  marry  him  till  many  years  after.     In  the  year 
1280  Guido  Cavalcanti  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  sureties 
in  the  peace  articles  drawn  up  by  Cardinal  Latino,  among 
whom,  as  we  saw,  was  also  Brunetto  Latini.     In  1284  he 
was  member  of  the  great  council  of  the  commune,  ox  podesta^ 
and  as  it  was  prescribed  that  no  one  could  attain  this  position 
before  the  completion  of  his  twenty-fifth  year,  it  follows  that 
Guido  could  not  have  been  born  after  1259.     When  the 
Guelph  party  was  itself  divided  into  two  hostile  camps,  by 
the  adherents  of  the  Cerchi  and  Donati  respectively,  the 
Cavalcanti  joined  the  former  and  Guido  took  an  active  part 
in  the  hostilities  that  agitated  the  city.     Dino  Compagni 
relates  that,  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Santiago,  he  was  in  danger  of 
his  life  through  the  snares  laid  by  Corso  Donati ;  and  the 
fact  of  the  pilgrimage  at  least  is  vouched  for  by  a  sonnet  of 
Niccola  Muscia  dei  Salimbeni  of  Siena,  from  which  we  also 
gather  that  Guido  did  not  actually  reach  Compostella,  but 
halted  at  Nimes  owing  to  illness,  and  sold  his  horses.    From 
his  own  poems  ("  Era  in  penser  d'amor,"  and  "  Una  giovane 
donna  di  Tolosa,")  it  appears  that  he  stayed  also  in  Toulouse, 
where  he  fell  in  love  with  a  lady  called  Mandetta.     When 
the  struggle  in  Florence  between  the  Cercheschi  and  Dona- 
teschi  became  more  and  more  serious,  the  Signoria,  on  June 
24,  1300,  decided  to  temporarily  remove  the  heads  of  the 
two  hostile  parties  from  the  city.     Among  those  banished 
was  Guido  Cavalcanti,  and  Dante,  who  was  then  one  of  the 
Priors,  was  thus  compelled  to   assent  to  such  a  measure 
against  his  best  friend.     Guido  became  ill  in  Sarzana,  the 
place  of  his  exile,  and  his  ballad,  "  Perch'io  non  spero  di 
tornar,"  which  appears  to  have  been  composed  there,  in 
words  of  pain  expresses  the  conviction,  that  he  will  never 
again  behold  Tuscany  and  his  beloved.     On  account  of  the 
unhealthy  air  of  that  town,  the  Signoria  soon  after  recalled 
the  exiled  Cercheschi  to  Florence.     But  for  Guido  it  was 
too  late:  he  died  shortly  after  his  return,  at  the  end  of 
August,  1300. 

Guido  Cavalcanti  is  described  to  us  as  a  deep  thmker. 
Giovanni  Villani  bewails  his  death  in  the  following  words 
(viii.  42)  :  *'  His  loss  was  much  to  be  lamented  :  for  he  was, 


ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC   POETRY,   ETC.  20$ 

as  a  philosopher,  in  many  ways  a  distinguished  man,  save 
that  he  was  too  sensitive  and  violent."     Dino  Compagni 
addressed  to  him  a  sonnet,  in  which  he  censures  his  aristo- 
cratically retired  and  brooding  mode  of  life,  and  exhorts  him 
to  take  an  active  part  in  the  public  Ufe  of  the  city.     In  this 
poem  he  characterises  him  as  follows  :    "  How  prudent  you 
are,  I  tell  among  the  people,  vigorous,  excellent,  and  capable, 
and  how  you  understand  attack  and  skirmishing,  and  how 
you  know  many  works  by  heart,  in  an  intelligent  way,  and 
how  you  run  and  leap  and  move  yourself."     Guido  united 
in  himself  the  chivalrous  qualities  of  the  warlike  Florentine 
nobility,  and  the  love  of  study,  and  thus  he  is  represented 
in  a  tale  of  Boccaccio  ("  Dec."  vi.  9),  in  which  it  is  related 
how  he  freed  himself  from  a  company  that  was  irksome  to 
him  by  means  of  a  deep  and  sarcastic  reply.    Boccaccio  goes 
on  to  say  of  him  :  "  When  he  philosophised,  he  often  with- 
drew himself  very  much  from  men,  and  as  he  held  some  of 
the  opinions  of  the  Epicureans,  it  was  said   among   the 
common  people  that  the  sole  end  of  these  speculations  of  his 
was  to  endeavour  to  prove  the  non-existence  of  God."     By 
"  Epicureans,"  those  were  meant  who  who  did  not  believe  in 
the  immortality  of  the  soul ;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  this 
was  really  Guido's  philosophical  conviction.     Among  the 
so-called  Epicureans  in  the  sixth  circle  of  Hell,  Dante  finds 
Guido's  father-in-law,  Farinata,  and  his  father,  Cavalcante, 
and  the  latter,  on  seeing  his  son's  friend  traversing  the  realm 
of  gloom,  looks  around  him  and  then,  weeping,  utters  the 
words  (x.  58) : 

If  through  this  blind 
Prison  thou  goest  by  loftiness  of  genius, 
Where  is  my  son?  and  why  is  he  not  with  thee? 

And  Dante  replies : 

I  come  not  of  myself; 
He  who  is  waiting  yonder  leads  me  here, 
Whom  in  disdain  perhaps  your  Guido  had.^ 

These  mysterious  words  have  not  yet  been  interpreted  in 
an  entirely  satisfactory  manner.     Why  should  Guido  have 

1  For  this,  as  for  all  the  other  passages  from  the  "  Commedia  "  quoted 
in  this  volume,  the  translation  used  is  that  of  Longfellow. 


I 


■If  . 
'k 

1  I 


206      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

disdained  the  leadership  of  Virgil  ?    It  has  been  said  that 
this  means  that  he  preferred  philosophy  to  poetry ;  but  surely 
it  is  precisely  philosophy  that  Virgil  symbolises  in  the  "Corn- 
media."   Others  thought  it  meant  that  he  had  cultivated  deep 
poetry  and  neglected  frivolous  themes ;  but  in  the  Middle 
Ages  Virgil  was  regarded  as  the  profoundest  of  all  poets. 
Then  again,  it  was  held  to  express  Guido's  predilection  for 
the  vulgar  tongue,  to  the  detriment  of  Latin  ;  but  how  could 
that  deprive  him  of  the  leadership  of  Virgil,  when  Dante 
himself  wrote  in  Italian,  and  narrated  in  Italian  the  very 
journey  on  which  Virgil  was  guiding  him  ?    A  new  explana- 
tion was  attempted  by  Francesco  D'Ovidio,  which  is  based 
on  the  old  report  of  Guido's  Epicureanism.    Dante's  Virgil, 
he  says,   signifies  Reason  and   Philosophy,   not,    however, 
reason  in  the  broad  sense,  but  reason  in  so  far  as  it  is  illu- 
minated and  guided  by   Divine  grace;   Virgil  is  sent  by 
Beatrice,  the  symbol  of  Faith,  and  obeys  her  behests.    Now, 
if  Guido  did  not  believe  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  it  is 
natural  that  this  Virgil  could  not  guide  him,  and  that  he  could 
not  journey  through  a  world  the  existence  of  which  he  denied. 
At  the  same  time,  as  D'Ovidio  himself  subsequently  owned,  it 
is  risky  to  base  the  interpretation  of  an  obscure  passage,  which 
could  have  quite  a  different  meaning,  on  a  notice  given  us  by 
a  novelist  fifty  years  later,  and,  even  then,  not  with  absolute 
certainty.     Cicciaporci  had  already  thought  that  the  whole 
reproach  of  Epicureanism  might  have  been  transferred  to 
Guido  from  his  father,  Cavalcante.     It  is  clear  enough  from 
the  accounts,  that  Guido  was  addicted  to  brooding  specula- 
tion, but  what  his  metaphysical  views  were  we  do  not  know. 
At  the  outside,   one  might  deduce  a  certain   freedom   of 
thought  in  religious  matters  from  one  of  his  own  poems.    In 
the  year  1292,  an  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  painted  on  one 
of  the  pillars  of  the  Loggia  di  Orto  San  Michele,  began  to 
work  miracles,  to  cure  the  sick,  and  to  free  those  possessed 
by  the  devil,  so  that  people  made  pilgrimages  thither  from  all 
parts ;  but  the  Franciscans  and  Dominicans  did  not  believe 
in  the  whole  affair,  out  of  jealousy,  as  the  people  said,  be- 
cause they  had  not  had  a  hand  in  it.    On  this  occasion,  Guido 
Cavalcanti   sent  to  Guido  Orlandi  one  of  those  favourite 
correspondence  sonnets,  in  which  he  speaks  in  a  mocking 
tone  of  these  events,  so  that  Guido  Orlandi  considered  it 


ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC   POETRY,   ETC. 

necessary  to  admonish  him,  in  his  reply,  to  penitence  and  to 
reverence  for  the  holy  men.  But  it  is  a  long  way  from  such 
mockery  of  miraculous  images  and  jealous  monks,  which 
even  pious  people  at  times  permitted  themselves,  to  in- 
credulity and  atheism. 

The  poem  of  Guido  to  which  he  was  most  indebted  for 
his  fame  as  poet  and  philosopher,  is  the  canzone,  "  Donna 
mi  prega;  perch'io  voglio  dire."  It  was  regarded  at  that 
time  as  a  marvellous  work — as  the  greatest  perfection  of 
poetry — for  it  was  science  itself  with  all  its  subtilities  ex- 
pressed in  verse :  in  it  the  erudite  dialectician  displayed  his 
art.  As  we  learn  from  the  opening,  the  poem  was  composed 
at  the  request  of  a  lady,  who  had  asked  him  what  love  was, 
and  whose  question  w^as  clothed  by  Guido  Orlandi  in  a 
sonnet,  "  Onde  si  muove  e  donde  nasce  Amore  ? "  The 
essence  of  love  was,  as  we  know,  an  old  and  favourite 
problem  of  the  Provengals  and  Sicilians,  the  solution  of 
which  had  then  been  attempted  by  Guido  Guinicelli  in  an 
original  manner,  in  that  he  illustrated  his  ideas  by  means  of 
expressive  images  and  similes.  A  different  method  is 
adopted  by  Guido  Cavalcanti,  who  employs  merely  sober 
propositions  and  demonstrations,  and  the  lady  who  had 
questioned  him  must  have  been  very  learned,  if  she  was 
satisfied  with  his  reply.  The  canzone  was,  in  the  course  of 
time,  commented  no  less  than  eight  times,  among  others  by 
so  distinguished  a  person  as  Egidio  Romano,  and  by  the 
famous  doctor,  Dino  del  Garbo,  both  of  these  employing 
the  Latin  tongue.  In  spite  of  the  fullness  of  these  inter- 
pretations, however,  the  meaning  of  many  passages  still 
remained  obscure — at  times,  indeed,  became  more  so;  it 
is  true  that  one  of  the  chief  reasons  for  this  may  be  the 
faulty  condition  of  the  text,  for  even  the  earliest  com- 
mentators had  to  work  with  variant  readings,  as  was,  later 
on,  the  case  with  Dante's  "Commedia,"  too.  The  first 
stanza  may  be  reproduced  somewhat  in  this  form :  "  A 
lady  begs  me ;  therefore  I  shall  tell  of  an  accident,  that  is 
often  cruel  and  so  proud,  and  that  is  called  Amore  :  let 
the  man,  who  does  not  believe  in  it,  hear  the  truth  con- 
cerning it.  And  for  the  present  exposition  I  require  a 
learned  reader,  for  I  do  not  think  that  a  man  of  slight 
intelligence  has  sufficient  understanding  for  such  a  subject ; 


1 


HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 


ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC   POETRY,   ETC.  209 


for  without  scientific  procedure  (senza  natural dimostramento^ 
that  is,  senza  il  dimostramento  della  filosofia  naturale)  I  do 
not  intend  to  demonstrate  where  Amore  dwells,  and  what 
brings  about  its  origin,  and  what  is  its  property,  its  power, 
its  being  and  each  one  of  its  manifestations,  the  pleasure 
that  gives  it  the  name  Amore,  and  whether  one  can  see  it  in 
the  body."  These  eight  points  into  which  Guido  divides  up 
his  theme,  and  the  second,  seventh,  and  eighth  of  which 
had  so  often  occupied  the  older  lyrical  poets,  though  in  a 
different  manner,  are  worked  off  quite  systematically  in  the 
tour  following  stanzas.  Here  we  have  the  apparatus  of  the 
scholastic  philosophy,  the  logical  divisions  and  distinctions, 
the  definitions,  syllogisms  and  terminology  of  the  schools. 
Image  and  sentiment,  the  foundations  of  all  poetry,  as  we 
find  them  in  Guinicelli's  canzone,  are  here  entirely  lacking. 
Add  to  this  the  wearisome  artificiality  of  the  form,  with  its 
numerous  difficult  intermediate  rhymes.  The  author  him- 
self was  very  satisfied  with  his  work.  He  says  in  the  refrain  : 
"  Thou  canst,  oh  canzone,  go  without  fear,  wherever  thou 
wilt ;  for  I  have  so  adorned  thee,  that,  whatever  thou  sayest 
will  be  very  much  praised  by  the  persons  that  have  under- 
standing; to  stay  with  the  others  thou  hast  no  wish." 
From  these  words  we  see  the  aesthetic  views  of  the  cultured 
public  of  those  days :  here  we  have  poetry  entirely  in  the 
service  of  science,  and  overburdened  with  erudition,  con- 
sidered worthy  of  long  commentaries,  and  requiring  these, 
if  it  was  to  be  understood  at  all ;  so  that  Guido's  canzone 
concerning  love  appears  as  a  forerunner  of  Dante's  "  Con- 
vivio,"  and,  in  a  measure,  of  the  "  Commedia  "  too. 

However,  the  exaggeration  of  the  didactic  manner,  as  ex- 
emplified in  this  product,  was,  fortunately,  never  repeated 
either  by  Guido  himself  or  by  the  other  poets  of  the  new 
Florentine  school,  the  chief  of  which  was  Guido  Cavalcanti, 
and  to  which  Dante  belonged.  Besides  these  two,  the 
following  deserve  special  mention  as  disciples  of  the  school : 
Lapo  Gianni,  the  friend  of  Guido  and  of  Dante,  Lapo  (or 
Lupo)  degli  Uberti,  the  son  of  the  noble  Farinata,  Gianni 
Alfani,  Dino  Frescobaldi,  and  Loffo  (or  Noffo)  Bonaguidi. 
These  poets  perfected  as  a  type,  and  transformed  into  a 
regular  system,  the  set  of  ideas  that  Guido  Guinicelli  had 
first  introduced  into  poetry.     Already  with  the  Provencals, 


love  consisted  of  the  apotheosis  of  the  lady,  who  was  the 
possessor  and  dispenser  of  every  perfection;  but  her  gift 
was  the  perfection  of  the  knight  and  courtier — fame,  honour, 
noble  manners  and  courtesy.  With  this  new  school,  how- 
ever, the  perfection  is  that  of  the  philosopher— virtue  and 
perception.  The  lady  is  something  that  has  descended  from 
heaven,  she  is  an  angel,  an  image  of  the  spiritual  on  earth ; 
what  she  inspires  is  Platonic  love.  Thus  Lapo  Gianni  says 
at  the  beginning  of  a  ballad  to  his  beloved : 

Angelica  figura  nuovamente 

Dal  ciel  venuta  a  spander  tua  salute, 

Tutta  la  sua  virtute 

Ha  in  te  locata  I'alto  dio  d'amore. 

(*' Angelic  form,  newly  come  from  heaven  to  spread  thy 
blessing,  all  his  power  has  the  high  God  of  love  placed  in 
thee.")  And  again,  in  the  finest  sonnet  of  Guido  Cavalcanti, 
*'  Chi  ^  questa  che  vien  ch'  ogn'  uom  la  mira,"  the  loved  one 
appears  as  something  transcendental,  for  the  perception  of 
which  the  human  intellect  is  not  adequate.  Everyone 
regards  her,  when  she  approaches ;  the  air  trembles  at  her 
radiance,  and  with  her  she  leads  Love,  so  that  no  one  can 
speak,  and  all  sigh.  Here  one  feels  the  truth  and  sincerity 
of  the  passion  that  has  given  rise  to  exaggerated  expressions 
of  praise,  and  communicated  its  fervour  to  them.  But  with 
the  poets  of  the  Florentine  school,  the  ideas  and  sentiments 
again  became  fossilised  into  conventional  forms.  Here,  too, 
we  have  Amore  personified,  the  ruler  of  all  lovers,  of  all 
those  that  have  a  noble  heart,  the  formula  concerning  Amore 
and  the  cor  gentile  being  often  repeated.  Now  Amore  is  a 
cruel  ruler,  and  now  a  gentle  one,  who  goes  to  the  lady  in 
order  to  entreat  her  to  have  pity  for  the  lover,  and  long  dia- 
logues between  them  follow.  In  other  cases  we  have  long 
speeches  addressed  to  the  canzone  or  to  the  ballad,  or  dia- 
logues between  the  personified  faculties  of  the  soul :  the 
heart  or  the  soul  or  a  thought  speaks,  and  the  spirits  of  love, 
the  spiritelli  d'amore,  act  and  hold  discourse.  The  pyscho- 
logical  processes  are  materialised  and  represented  by  means 
of  these  very  personifications ;  it  is,  above  all,  that  most  im- 
portant event,  the  actual  faUing  in  love,  the  origin  of  the 
feeling  that  is  to  be  the  source  of  pain  and  of  perfection,  that 
I.  P 


210      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

becomes  a  favourite  theme  of  this  school.  A  spirit  of  love 
— thus  the  process  is  described  in  the  very  characteristic 
ballad  of  Lapo  Gianni,  that  has  already  been  quoted — com- 
ing from  the  heart  of  the  lady  by  way  of  the  eyes,  enters 
through  the  eyes  of  the  poet  and  makes  his  heart  and  soul 
take  flight,  in  that  they  are  in  fear  of  death.  "Then,  when 
the  soul  had  regained  its  power,  it  called  to  the  heart :  '  Art 
thou  dead  now,  since  I  do  not  feel  thee  in  thy  place  ? '  And 
the  heart  replied,  which  had  but  little  life  left,  and  which, 
solitary,  astray,  without  aid,  and  expiring,  could  scarcely 
speak,  and  said  :  '  Oh  soul,  help  me  to  raise  myself.' "  This  is 
a  new  conventionalism,  a  new  repertory  of  ideas  and  expres- 
sions, less  vapid  and  sickly  than  those  of  the  Sicilians,  but  all 
the  more  abstract.  Still,  in  spite  of  all  this,  there  remains 
in  this  new  Florentine  school  a  considerable  amount  of 
individual  feeling,  and  it  is  further  distinguished  by  increas- 
ing vigour  and  maturity  of  form.  The  language  is  already  a 
flexible  instrument,  adequate  to  express  the  most  difficult 
themes.  As  such  it  appears,  leaving  Guido  out  of  count, 
especially  in  the  canzoni  of  Dino  Frescobaldi. 

Moreover,  this  striving  after  depth  of  thought  was  com- 
bined with  the  tendency,  peculiar  to  the  Tuscans,  towards  a 
more  natural  and  popular  manner,  which  often  animated 
the  poetry  by  imparting  to  it  a  fresher  breath.  Guido 
Cavalcanti  himself  composed  two  ballads  in  the  Old  French 
and  FToyen^a\  genre  of  the  J>astore//a,  and  he  fully  succeeded 
in  preserving  the  ingenuous  simplicity  of  the  rural  poetry. 
In  the  one  poem  ("  Era  in  pensier  d'amor  ")  he  meets,  while 
lost  in  thought  of  his  Toulousan  Mandetta,  two  pretty  young 
country  girls,  who  look  at  him,  see  how  much  he  is  in  love 
and  raihngly  ask  him  whether  he  can  remember  the  eyes 
that  have  wounded  him  so  deeply.  In  the  other  ("  In  un 
boschetto  trovai  pastorella  ")  he  finds  a  shepherdess  alone  in 
the  wood,  and  begs  for  her  love,  in  the  manner  of  the 
knights  of  the  French  and  Provencal  pastoral  poems ;  but 
the  figure  of  the  girl  and  her  dialogue  with  him  are,  in  spite 
of  its  naturalness,  imbued  with  a  certain  ideal  colouring  that 
imparts  to  them  a  peculiar  charm.  The  foreign  genre  of  the 
pastoral  is  treated  with  skill  and  originality,  so  that  it  is  not 
the  imitation  so  much  as  nature  itself  which  is  felt,  appear- 
ing purified  by  the  delicacy  and  grace  of  art. 


ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC   POETRY,   ETC.  211 

In  the  same  way  as  Guido  Guinicelli,  so,  too,  Guido 
Cavalcanti  wrote  poems  in  which  he  leaves  this  abstraction 
for  the  nonce,  in  order  to  turn  in  a  scoffing  spirit  to 
the  life  that  surrounded  him.  This  may  be  remarked  m  the 
sonnet  addressed  to  Guido  Orlandi,  concerning  the  mira- 
culous image  of  Orsanmichele.  He  is  more  bitter  in  the 
sonnet,  ''  Guata,  Manetto,  quella  scrignotuzza,"  in  which  he 
describes  an  over-dressed  hunch-backed  woman  and  the  end- 
less laughter  she  arouses  when  she  struts  along  beside  a 
beautiful  woman.  Here  we  have  the  transition  to  the  hu- 
morous poetry  that  was  beginning  to  spring  up  in  the 
Tuscan  cities  by  the  side  of  the  philosophical  lyrics,  and 
strongly  contrasting  with  these.  In  the  free  communes  a 
cheerful,  material  life  was  developing,  together  with  the 
wealth  that  had  been  accumulated  by  dint  of  industry  and 
commerce.  This  age  of  rehgious  enthusiasm  was  at  the 
same  time  full  of  a  fresh  delight  in  life.  It  was  not  every- 
body that  mortified  himself.  Men  loved  brilliant  feasts,  and 
just  as  the  flagellants,  filled  with  their  ascetic  zeal,  formed 
brotherhoods  for  their  pious  aims,  so,  too,  young  people  met 
together  in  societies,  for  the  purpose  of  enjoying  the  pleasures 
of  life.  The  grammarian  Buoncompagno,  as  early  as  the  year 
1 2 15,  gives  an  account,  in  his  "  Cedrus,"  of  such  societies, 
of  which  there  were,  according  to  him,  more  in  Tuscany 
than  anywhere  else :  "  Certain  societies  of  young  people," 
he  says,  "  are  being  formed  in  many  parts  of  Italy,  that  adopt 
names  such  as  the  Society  of  the  Falcons,  the  Lions,  the 
Round  Table,  and  the  like.  And  although  this  custom  is 
spread  over  the  whole  of  Italy,  yet  it  is  specially  prevalent  in 
Tuscany,  seeing  that  here  it  would  be  hard  to  find  young 
people  in  any  town  who  are  not  bound  together  by  oath." 
Giovanni  Villani,  in  his  chronicle  (vii.  89),  describes  to  us 
the  year  1283  as  the  time  at  which  Florence  was  at  the  height 
of  its  prosperity.  In  June  of  that  year,  during  the  feast  of 
St.  John  and  at  the  instigation  of  the  family  de'  Rossi,  a 
society  of  more  than  a  thousand  persons  was  formed,  all 
dressed  in  white  garb,  under  a  leader  who  called  himself 
"  Lord  of  Love,"  ''  and  this  society  devoted  itself  to  nothing 
but  games  and  pleasures,  dances  of  ladies  and  knights  and 
burghers,  who  joyfully  and  merrily  marched  through  the 
town  with  trumpets  and  other  instruments,  or  came  together 


212      HISTORY  6¥  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

at  banquets."      This  "court,"  as  Villani  calls  the  festival, 
lasted  almost  two  months,  and  it  was  swelled  from  other 
parts  by  courtiers  and  jongleurs.     At  that  time  there  were 
about  three  hundred  knights  in  Florence  and  many  com- 
panies of  knights  and  young  nobles,  who  banqueted  in  the 
morning  and  at  night  with  numerous  minstrels,  making  them 
presents  of  valuable  clothes,  and  whenever  a  distinguished 
stranger  passed  through  Florence  they  vied  with  one  another 
in  inviting  him  and  in  accompanying  him  on  horseback  both 
in  the  city  and  beyond  its  walls.     In  another  passage  (vii. 
132)  Villani  describes  the  May  festivals,  with  their  proces- 
sions of  beautifully  attired  youths  and  women,  wearing  lovely 
wreaths,  and  with  their  public  dances,  games,  and  banquets. 
This  gay  enjoyment  of  Hfe,  this  pleasure  in  feasts  and  en- 
tertainments, is  expressed  in  the  verses  of  Folgore  da  San 
Gemignano.    In  sonnet  cycles  he  celebrates  the  pleasures  of 
the  various  months  and  of  the  various  days  of  the  week,  the 
former  for  the  amusement  of  a  merry  society  in  Siena,  the 
latter   for  a   friend  in  Florence,  Carlo  di  Messer  Guerra 
Cavicciuoli ;  and  one  Cene  dalla  Chitarra  of  Arezzo,  angry 
at  Folgore's  boastings,  composed  burlesque  parodies  of  his 
facetious  poems.     The  attempt  has  been  made  to  identify 
the  company  to  which  Folgore's  first  series  of  sonnets  is 
addressed  with  the  famous  brigata  godereccia  or  spe?idereccia, 
whose  mad  extravagance  was  condemned  by  Dante  in  the 
"Inferno"  (xxix.   130).      According  to  the  commentators 
this  consisted  of  twelve  young  men,  who  out  of  their  fortunes 
put  together  216,000  florins,  an  enormous  sum  in  those  days, 
purchased  a  magnificent  palace  in  Siena,  and  with  their 
gluttony  squandered  the  money  in  ten  months.     If  this  is 
the  correct  interpretation,  Folgore's  Niccolo  would  be  iden- 
tical with  the  man  mentioned  by  Dante  as  the  inventor  of 
the  dish  of  the  costuma  ricca  del  garofano^  and  who,  accord- 
ing to  some  annotators,  was  of  the  family  of  the  Salimbeni, 
according  to  others,  of  that  of  the  Bonsignori.     Benvenuto 
da  Imola  tells  us   that  two  canzoni  were  written  on  the 
brigata  spendereccia,  quarum  altera  continet  delicias  eortitn  et 
delectationes  eonim,  altera  vera  calamitates  et  mtserias,  quas 
habituri  erant.dSiA  D'Ancona  does  not  doubt  that  these  poems 
are  the  sonnet  cycles  of  Folgore  and  Cene  that  have  come 
down  to  us,  the  former  celebrating  the  time  of  splendour  and 


* 


i^ 


ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC   POETRY,   ETC.         213 

enjoyment,  while  the  other  prophesied  the  misery  of  the  im- 
poverished company.  However,  GiuHo  Navone  has  brought 
some  very  weighty  arguments  to  bear  against  this  theory.  The 
final  sonnet  of  Folgore's  corona  on  the  months  gives  not 
merely  the  name  Niccolo,  but,  according  to  an  improved  read- 
ing, that  of  Niccolo  di  Nisi ;  and  Navone  found  a  Nicolaus 
Bindini  Nigii,  of  the  house  of  the  Tolomei,  mentioned  about 
the  year  1337.  Moreover,  a  Nicolaus  Bandini  of  Siena  acted, 
in  1309,  as  commissary  at  the  conclusion  of  peace  between 
Volterra  and  S.  Gemignano ;  and  in  the  very  war  that  was 
ended  by  this  treaty,  Carlo  Cavicciuoli  of  Florence  had 
fought  on  the  side  of  the  people  of  Gemignano  as  condottiere. 
Of  course  it  is  not  certain  whether  Nicolaus  Bandini  is  iden- 
tical with  Nicolaus  Bindini  Nigii,  and  whether  he  is  the 
person  to  whom  Folgore  dedicated  his  sonnets.  But  it 
becomes  highly  probable  from  the  coincidence  that  this  man 
was,  at  exactly  the  same  time,  acting  together  with  the  other 
one,  to  whom  the  second  corona  is  certainly  addressed,  in  the 
interest  of  the  poet's  native  city,  where  he  could  have  made 
his  acquaintance  and  become  his  friend.  It  has  therefore 
also  been  held  that  the  sonnets  should  not  be  assigned  a 
date  earlier  than  1 309,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that,  as 
we  shall  see,  Folgore  was  certainly  still  writing  poetry  in 
13 1 5.  It  must  be  remembered  that  there  was  a  number  of 
societies  that  aimed  at  making  life  gay,  though  they  may  not 
have  gone  to  such  extremes  as  the  brigata  spendereccia. 
Besides,  Folgore's  corona  contains  no  distinct  allusions  to  an 
extravagant  company.  We  find  in  it  nothing  but  all  the 
splendid  things,  all  the  representations  of  constant  happiness 
and  welfare,  such  as  a  man  would  wish  for  himself  and  his 
good  friends  if  he  were  once  to  allow  his  imagination  free 
play  :  and,  indeed,  we  have  nothing  but  wishes.  The  good 
Folgore  enumerates  everything  that  he  would  like  to  give 
and  procure  for  his  dear  friends,  if  he  could ;  if  it  had  been  a 
question  of  such  madness  actually  taking  place,  there  was 
no  occasion  for  him  to  wish,  he  need  only  have  described. 
And  finally,  living  merrily,  delighting  in  what  is  offered  by 
the  various  seasons,  now  in  hunting,  fishing,  and  jousting, 
now  in  love,  dances  and  games,  now  in  wandering  through 
fresh  gardens  and  along  clear  springs,  now,  too,  in  good  cheer, 
all  this  is  surely  different  from  the  dissolute  gluttony  of  those 


214      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

young  men,  who  squandered  hundreds  of  thousands  in  ten 
months.  As  regards  Cene  dalla  Chitarra,  his  parody  is 
directed  not  so  much  against  the  company  as  against  its  poet. 
He  scoffs  at  his  boastful  gifts  in  words,  and  always  gives  or 
wishes  the  members  the  contrary — accordingly,  not  only 
hunger  and  cold  such  as  may  be  prognosticated  for  spend- 
thrifts, but  many  other  things,  that  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  poverty  that  might  be  foreseen,  such  as  an  old  woman 
as  companion,  a  disgusting  priest  as  superintendent,  leeches 
and  frogs  as  the  result  of  fishing,  gadflies  and  jumping  don- 
keys instead  of  the  beautiful  girls,  and  curious  owls  in  the 
place  of  falcons  and  sparrow-hawks. 

Folgore's  poetry,  carelessly  facetious  in  these  sonnet  cycles, 
was  at  times  more  serious.  He  is  the  author  of  three  political 
sonnets  of  great  power  and  boldness  of  satire,  relating  to  the 
battle  of  Montecatini,  in  which  the  Florentine  Guelphs  and 
King  Robert  of  Naples  were  defeated  by  the  Ghibellines, 
under  Uguccione  della  Faggiola.  The  party  hatred  that 
devastated  the  Tuscan  communes,  that  caused  so  much 
bloodshed  and  drove  so  many  noble  families  into  exile  and 
misery,  re-echoes  in  these  fierce  and  passionate  poems. 
Folgore  is  a  Guelph,  and  while  reviling  his  victorious  op- 
ponents, he  lashes  the  cowardice  of  his  own  party,  that  has 
given  the  others  their  supremacy  : 

Oh,  Guelphs,  through  making  shields  out  of  your  backs, 
The  rabbits  you  have  changed  to  lions'  form, 
And  through  making  such  great  use  of  your  spurs 
When  you  your  horses'  reins  held  homeward  turned. 

He   renounces   his   service   of  God   himself,  for  having 
humbled  the  Guelphs : 

Eo  non  ti  lodo,  Dio,  e  non  ti  adoro, 
E  non  ti  prego  e  non  ti  rengrazio, 
E  non  ti  servo,  ch'eo  ne  son  piii  sazio, 
Che  I'aneme  di  star  en  purgatoro.   .  .  . 

Still  more  skilful  than  Folgore  and  Cene  in  the  handling 
of  humorous  poetry  was  Cecco  Angiolieri  of  Siena,  a  poet  of 
no  ordinary  talent  and  originality,  who  found  his  themes  by 
preference  in  the  lower  conditions  of  every-day  life.  Cecco 
is  mentioned  several  times  in  the  registers  of  his  native  town, 


6 


/ 


ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC   POETRY,  ETC.  21 5 

under  the  year  1281,  as  having  been  fined  for  avoiding 
military  service.  His  father,  Messer  Angiolieri,  held  offices 
of  the  commune,  and  subsequently  entered  the  order  of  the 
Frati  Gaudenti ;  in  spite  of  his  good  position,  he  kept  his 
son  on  a  small  allowance,  so  that  he  was  unable  to  partici- 
pate in  those  frivolous  pleasures  to  which  his  disposition 
tended.  He  had  been  married  to  an  ugly  wife,  and  en- 
deavoured to  make  up  for  this  by  the  love  of  his  Becchina, 
the  daughter  of  a  shoemaker,  whom  he  has  celebrated  in  his 
songs,  after  his  own  style.  One  of  these  sonnets  on  Becchina 
("I'ho  tutte  le  cose  ch'  io  non  voglio")  contains  the  exact 
date,  June  20th,  1291.  He  hated  his  house  and  his  family, 
and  loved  the  life  of  the  tavern,  drinking  and  gambling  with 
merry  comrades.     Three  things,  he  says,  please  him : 

Cioe  la  donna,  la  taverna  e'  1  dado, 

"  women,  the  tavern,  and  dice,"  and  these  three  things,  to- 
gether with  his  wrath  against  those  who  prevent  him  from 
enjoying  them,  are  the  inspiration  of  his  poetry.  His  thoughts 
and  feelings  are  expressed  with  an  unparalleled  callousness, 
and  the  sonnets  on  his  father  are  probably  the  most  flagrant 
utterances  of  filial  disrespect  to  be  found  in  literature.  He 
bewails  the  fact  that  the  mean  old  man  is  in  such  good  health 
and  will  not  leave  him  the  inheritance  that  he  so  ardently 
desires :  "  I  have  a  father,  who  is  very  old  and  rich,  and  am 
always  waiting  for  him  to  die  ;  and  he  will  die  when  the  sea 
shall  be  without  water,  so  healthy  has  God  made  him  in 
order  to  torture  me  "  : 

Che  ho  un  padre  vecchissimo  e  ricco, 
Ch'  aspetto  ched  e'  muoia  a  mano  a  mano, 
Ed  e  morra,  quando  '1  mar  sara  sicco, 
Si  r  ha  Dio  fatto,  per  mio  strazio,  sano. 

When  he  at  last  died,  there  is  no  limit  to  the  son's  rejoicing : 
"  Let  the  inhabitants  of  hell  not  despair,  since  someone  has 
come  out  of  it,  who  was  nailed  fast  in  it,  and  who  thought 
that  he  would  always  have  to  remain  there,  and  that  is  Cecco, 
as  he  is  called.  But  now  the  page  has  turned  so  that  I 
shall  always  live  in  glory,  for  Messer  Angiolieri  has  gone  off, 
who  made  me  sorrowful  both  in  summer  and  in  winter." 
Cecco's  love  is  entirely  sensual,  far  removed  from  the 


2l6      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Platonism  of  the  Bolognese-Florentine  lyrical  poetry. 
Eventually  his  Becchina  was  married  to  another,  and  the 
relation  between  them  became  something  like  that  of  the 
lady  and  her  lover  in  the  one  canzone  of  Compagnetto  da 
Prato.  But  this  passion,  in  spite  of  its  vulgarity,  has  never- 
theless the  merit  of  sincerity  and  naturalness.  We  have 
here,  as  in  everything  that  Cecco  wrote,  the  direct  expression 
of  the  inner  man,  and  at  times  we  hear  fresh  and  simple 
tones,  that  recall  popular  poetry  : 

lo  ho  in  tal  donna  lo  mio  core  assise, 
Che  chi  dicesse  :  Ti  fo  imperadore 
E  sta  che  non  la  veggi  per  due  ore, 
SI  li  dire! :  Va,  che  tu  sii  ucciso. 

"  My  heart  have  I  set  on  such  a  lady,  that  if  anyone  were  to 
say :  '  I  make  you  an  emperor,  but  be  two  hours  without 
seeing  her,'  I  would  reply  to  him :  *  The  devil  take  you.' " 
Specially  vivacious,  too,  are  the  numerous  sonnets  in  dialogue 
form,  in  which  the  words  fly  quickly  backwards  and  forwards 
between  the  poet  and  his  mistress,  and  reproduce  for  us  the 
actual  tone  of  these  conversations,  now  tender,  now  quarrel- 
some. But  one  poem  has  always  been  quoted  with  special 
predilection,  and  rightly  so,  for  it  shows  off  better  than  all  the 
others  Cecco's  poetical  characteristics,  and  is  in  itself  one  of 
the  most  perfect  productions  of  humorous  poetry  in  existence. 
The  sonnet  form,  which  is  specially  adapted  to  epigrammatic 
effects,  is  here  handled  in  a  masterly  manner.  Beginning 
with  expressions  of  the  fiercest  animosity,  with  the  wish  to 
destroy  mankind  and  to  ruin  the  world,  he  ends  the  poem 
with  a  frivolous  jest  that  springs  from  the  play  of  the  con- 
trasts in  an  unexpected  and  highly  effective  manner : 

If  I  were  fire,  I'd  burn  the  world  away  ; 

If  I  were  wind,  I'd  turn  my  storms  thereon  ; 

If  I  were  water,  I'd  soon  let  it  drown  ; 

If  I  were  God,  I'd  sink  it  from  the  day ; 
If  I  were  Pope,  I'd  never  feel  quite  gay 

Until  there  was  no  peace  beneath  the  sun  ; 

If  I  were  Emperor,  what  would  I  have  done?— 

I'd  lop  men's  heads  all  round  in  my  own  way. 
If  I  were  death,  I'd  look  my  father  up  ; 

If  I  were  Life,  I'd  run  away  from  him  ; 

And  treat  my  mother  to  like  calls  and  runs. 


ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC   POETRY,  ETC.  21/ 

If  I  were  Cecco  (and  that's  all  my  hope), 
I'd  pick  the  nicest  girls  to  suit  my  whim, 
And  other  folk  should  get  the  ugly  ones.^ 

Cecco  stood  for  a  time  in  relations  with  Dante,  and  to 
him  are  addressed  three  of  his  sonnets.  From  these  we  see 
that  Dante,  fully  recognising  Cecco's  talent,  had  endeavoured, 
though  vainly,  to  induce  him  to  give  up  his  mode  of  life,  and 
to  devote  himself  to  worthier  objects.  Later  on,  he  must 
have  reproached  him  for  being  a  parasite :  Cecco  was  at  the 
time,  so  it  is  reported,  staying  in  Rome  with  the  Sienese 
cardinal,  Ricciardo  Petroni.  But  Dante  was,  by  this  time, 
himself  in  exile,  and  compelled  to  avail  himself  of  the 
support  of  others ;  the  enraged  Cecco  accordingly  threw 
back  in  his  teeth  his  reproach  against  himself,  in  a  sonnet 
which  must  have  put  an  end  to  the  friendsuip  for  all  time. 
This  poem,  therefore,  belongs  to  the  beginning  of  the  four- 
teenth century.  Cecco  Angiolieri  must  have  died  about 
13 1 2,  since  his  sons  in  this  year  gave  up  all  claims  to  their 
encumbered  patrimony,  as  was  discovered  by  D'Ancona. 

In  the  Florentine  Rustico  di  Filippo,  the  friend  of 
Brunetto  Latini,  we  find  the  various  manners  of  the  time 
combined  in  a  remarkable  way.  In  some  of  his  sonnets,  he 
has  not  advanced  in  the  smallest  degree  beyond  the  stage  of 
the  Sicilian  school:  thus,  in  the  sickly  dialogue  with  the 
lady :  "  Poiche  vi  place  ch'io  mostri  allegranza,"  or  in  the 
love  entreaty :  "  Merce,  madonna,  non  mi  abbandonate." 
But  by  him,  too,  is  a  sonnet,  "  lo  aggio  inteso  che  senza  lo 
core,"  that  astonished  the  critics  with  its  clever  points ;  while 
another  one,  "  Tutto  lo  giorno  intorno  vo  fuggendo,"  displays 
not  only  the  cleverness  and  delicacy,  but  also  the  weaknesses 
of  the  Petrarchist  school  of  poetry,  with  its  antitheses  con- 
cerning ice  and  fire.  Finally,  Rustico  wrote  a  number  of 
humorous  pieces.  Eighteen  sonnets  of  this  kind  are  printed 
— political  satires,  personal  mockery,  jests  concerning  petty 
domestic  affairs  and  events,  the  undiluted  representation  of 
everyday  life,  sturdy  and  natural,  and  vigorously  expressed, 
but  unfortunately  often  obscure,  by  reason  of  the  allusion  to 
ephemeral  matters. 

With  these  poets  of  the  realistic  tendency,  at  the  end  of 

*  D.  G.  Rossetti's  translation. 


21 8      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

•the  thirteenth  and  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  we 
have  reached  the  close  of  the  first  period  of  Itahan  hterature. 
If  we  look  back,  we  remark  a  variety  of  phenomena,  which 
were  not  yet  capable  of  producing  a  great  literary  work  of 
absolute  merit,  but  each  of  which  contains  the  germs  of  future 
developments  of  importance,  the  beginnings  of  that  which 
the  succeeding  centuries  gradually  completed.     And  thus 
the  first  period  supplies  the  most  significant  explanation  ot 
the  productions  of  those  that  follow :  for  a  literary  develop- 
ment cannot  be  grasped  save  by  examining  its  origins.     For 
this  reason  these  earliest  epochs  of  literature,  that  were 
formerly   neglected,   are   now   being   rightly    studied  with 
special  diligence— these  epochs  in  which  everything    even 
the  smallest  point,  is  of  interest,  as  a  mark  of  the  intellectual 
life  which  develops  with  ever-increasing  richness.     We  saw 
lyrical  poetry  first  among  the  Sicilians,  in  a  condition  ot 
absolute  dependence  on  foreign  models,  that  had  given  the 
impulse  to  its  origin.     Then,  among  the  transition  poets  of 
the  Bolognese  and  Florentines,  it  emancipates  itself  more 
and  more,  and  even  conventionalism  assumes  a  peculiar  and 
independent  character,  in  face  of  the  influences  of  foreign 
literature— a  gradual  progress,  which  finally  produced,  as 
mature  fruit,  the  lyrics  of  Dante  and  Petrarca.     Narrative 
poetry  so  far  as  it  treated  chivalrous  themes,  remained  under 
the  ban  of  foreign  literatures,  and  even  of  foreign  languages. 
No  themes  for  epic  treatment  were  at  hand.     However,  the 
gay  and  brilliant  world  of  the  legends  of  chivalry  was  loved 
by  the  people  and  attracted  the  curiosity  of  the  masses. 
For  a  long  while  it  lived  on  in  the  lower  regions  of  literature, 
in  the  poetry  of  the  roving  minstrels.     Still,  it  was  destined, 
after  nearly  two  hundred  years,  rendered  more  fertile  by  the 
introduction  of  the  comic  element,  to  attain  a  fresh  artistic 
life,  and  to  develop  into  the  great  romantic  poems  of  Pulci, 
Boiardo,  and  Ariosto.    The  novel  appears  in  the  "  Novellino 
as  bare,  dry,  and  possessed  of  litde  interest ;  but  still  this 
book  is  the  predecessor  of  the  "  Decamerone,"  in  the  same 
way  as  Folgore,  Cene,  Cecco  and  Rustico  are  the  predeces- 
sors  of  men  Hke  Sacchetti  and  Pucci  in  the  fourteenth,  Bur- 
chiello  in  the  fifteenth,  and  Berni  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
in  these  cases,  indeed,  without  really  being  surpassed.     How- 
ever the  real  popular  poetry  of  this  first  period  was  religious 


ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC  POETRY,  ETC.  219 

poetry,  appearing  in  the  form  of  narrative  and  didactic  works 
among  the  Lombards  and  Venetians,  and  as  lyrical  poetry 
and  the  primitive  drama  in  Central  Italy.  It  was  in  harmony 
with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  intimately  connected  with  its 
thought  and  feeling,  as  these  found  their  most  splendid  ex- 
pression in  the  Church  Jubilee  of  the  year  1300,  ordained 
by  Pope  Boniface.  This  religious  poetry  had  hitherto  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  the  germs  of  poetry 
still  lay  concealed  in  it :  but  it  had,  before  and  above  all  the 
rest,  the  claim  and  capacity  of  further  development.  This 
took  place  through  Dante  Alighieri,  and  the  literary  develop- 
ment of  Italy  reached  its  acme  when,  in  his  great  poem,  the 
mature  art  of  the  school  was  combined  with  the  favourite 
subject  of  popular  tradition. 


— ■         *^'iy'^"" 


►*— fc— . 


.Q-^^  ',  / 


it-v 


n 


DANTE'S   LIFE   AND   MINOR   WORKS 

DANTE  ALIGHIERI  was  not  descended  from  one  of 
the  great  Florentine  families,  but  still  from  a  stock 
whose  past  he  himself  regarded  with  a  certain  pride.  One 
of  his  ancestors  he  immortalised  in  the  "Commedia," 
namely,  Cacciaguida,  whose  spirit  he  encounters  in  the 
planet  of  Mars  ("  Par."  xv.).  He  had  gone  to  the  Holy  Land 
with  the  crusading  army  of  Conrad  HI.  in  1147,  been 
knighted  by  the  Emperor  and  fallen  there.  His  wife,  he 
says,  came  to  him  from  the  valley  of  the  Po.  She  was  an 
Alighieri,  or  Aldighieri,  probably  from  Ferrara;  he  called 
his  son  Alaghiero,  after  her  family  name,  and  this  name 
of  Alaghieri,  later  Alighieri,  subsequently  passed  over  to 
the  family.  The  son  of  this  Alaghiero  was  a  certain  Bel- 
lincione,  and  his  son  a  second  Alaghiero,  who  was  the 
father  of  Dante.  His  mother  Bella,  of  unknown  descent, 
was  probably  the  first  of  Alaghiero's  two  wives,  as  Dante 
is  in  documents  always  named  before  his  brother  Francesco, 
the  son  of  Alaghiero's  other  wife  Lapa  Cialuffi,  and  was 
accordingly  the  older  of  the  two ;  he  must  therefore  have 
lost  his  mother  at  an  early  age.  Dante's  ancestors  belonged 
to  the  Guelph  party,  and  were,  in  the  course  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  twice  compelled  to  flee  from  the  town — in  1249, 
when  Frederick  of  Antioch,  the  son  of  the  Emperor 
Frederick  H.,  came  to  the  aid  of  the  Ghibellines,  and  in 
1260,  after  the  batde  of  Montaperti.  On  the  second  occa- 
sion, the  Guelphs  did  not  return  to  Florence  till  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year  1267.  But  whether  it  be  that  Dante's 
father  Alaghiero  was  not  banished  with  the  rest  in  1260 
(perhaps  because  he  was  too  young  and  therefore  not 
dangerous),  or  that  he  was  permitted  to  return  sooner,  or 
that  Donna  Bella  came  back  earlier  by  herself,  the  fact 


DANTE'S   LIFE  AND   MINOR   WORKS  221 

remains,  being  attested  both  by  the  poet  himself  and  by 
the  oldest  biographers,  that  Dante  was  born  at  Florence 
in  1265,  and  baptised  in  the  church  of  S.  Giovanni.     We 
have  no  account  of  the  education  he  enjoyed  in  his  youth. 
Ever  since  Boccaccio  it  has  been  the  custom  to  call  Brunetto 
Latini  Dante  s  master,  and  this  opinion  had  its  origin  in  the 
beautiful  verses  full  of  love  and  gratitude,  in  which  he  has 
spoken  of  Brunetto  (- Inf."  xv.  82).     It  is  true  that  they 
show  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  author  of  the  "  Tr^sor  "  had 
a  considerable  influence  on  Dante's  intellectual  develop- 
ment ;   he  was  probably  a  paternal  friend,  who  supported 
the  younger  man  with  counsels  and  doctrines,  and  directed 
and  encouraged  him  in  his  studies,  without  being  his  teacher 
in  the  ordinary  sense.     A  man  like  Brunetto  Latini   who 
was  then  taking  part  in  public  life  and  was  secretary  of  the 
republic,  could  not  well  have  kept  a  school  or  given  regular 
private  lessons  in  Florence.     We  do  not  know  when  this 
intercourse   with    Dante   took    place:    it  is  possible  that 
Brunetto  was  one  of  the  Filosofanti,  whose  disputations  the 
poet  attended  after  the  year  1291  ("Convivio,"  ii   13) 

Towards  the  end  of  the  eighties  Dante  had'  joined  in 
several  military  expeditions  of  his  native  town.  In  1288  he 
appears  to  have  taken  part  in  the  inroads  made  by  the 
l^lorentines  into  the  district  of  the  Ghibelline  city  of  Arezzo  • 
and,  according  to  the  statement  of  Leonardo  Aretino,  based 
on  a  letter  of  Dante's,  now  lost,  he  fought  against  the 
Aretmes  m  the  battle  of  Campaldino  (June  nth;  1289),  in 
the  front  rank  of  the  Florentine  cavalry.  In  the  same  year 
he  was  also  present  when  the  fortress  of  Caprona  was  taken 
trom  the  Pisans,  as  we  learn  from  a  passage  in  the  "  Com- 
media" ("Inf."  xxi.  95). 

The  great  event  of  Dante's  youth  is  his  love,  and  the 
figure  that  dominates  everything  and  fills  his  entire  life  is 
Beatrice.  He  saw  her  for  the  first  time  when  they  both  were 
children  he  nine  and  she  eight  years  of  age.  She  appeared 
to  him  clothed  in  a  most  noble  colour,  a  humble  and  sub- 
dued red,  girded  and  adorned  as  became  her  very  youthful 
age."  And  his  life-spirit  began  to  tremble  violently;  for  he 
has  found  one  who  will  dominate  him.  From  that  time  he 
feels  himself  urged  on  to  seek  the  place  where  he  may  see 
this  "  youthful  angel."      One  day,  after  the  lapse  of  another 


222 


HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 


space  of  nine  years,  from  the  day  of  the  first  meeting,  she 
appears  to  him  again,  robed  in  the  purest  white,  between 
two  other  ladies,  and  "  passing  along  the  way,  she  turned 
her  eyes  ...  and  by  her  ineffable  courtesy  ...  she  saluted 
him  in  such  virtuous  wise,  that  he  appeared  to  behold  the 
highest  degree  of  bliss."  It  was  the  first  time  that  her  voice 
reached  his  ear,  and  it  fills  him  with  such  joy,  that  he  is  as 
it  were  intoxicated,  and  takes  refuge  from  the  intercourse  of 
man  in  the  solitude  of  his  chamber.  He  falls  asleep  and 
has  a  dream.  On  waking  he  puts  it  down  m  verse,  and 
this  was  the  origin  of  Dante's  first  sonnet : 

A  ciascun'  alma  presa  e  gentil  core, 

Nel  cui  cospetto  viene  il  dir  presente, 

A  cio  che  mi  riscrivan  suo  parvente, 

Salute  in  lor  signor,  cioe  Amore. 
Gia  eran  quasi  ch'  atterzate  Tore 

Del  tempo  che  ogni  Stella  e  piii  lucente, 

Quando  m'apparve  Amor  subitamente, 

Cui  essenza  membrar  mi  d^  orrore. 
Allegro  mi  sembrava  Amor,  tenendo 

Mio  cor  in  mano,  e  nelle  braccia  avea 

Madonna  involta  in  un  drappo,  dormendo. 
Poi  la  svegliava,  e  d'esto  core  ardendo 

Lei  paventosa  umilmente  pascea  ; 

Appresso  gir  ne  lo  vedea  piangendo.^ 

The  poem  is  addressed  to  the  lovers,  that  is,  to  the  poets, 
and  demands  an  explanation  of  the  dream.  In  these  verses, 
written  by  Dante  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  we  have  an  allegory 
in  the  form  of  a  vision,  a  psychological  process  symbolically 
represented— Amore  giving  the  loved  one  to  eat  of  the  poet's 
heart ;  images  these,  which  appear  to  us  grotesque,  but 
which  are  full  of  significance  and  rich  in  ideas.  Here  we 
have  again  the  poetic  manner  of  the  new  Florentine  school, 
and  so  we  can  understand  how  Dante  da  Majano,  the  repre- 

»  To  every  captive  soul  and  noble  heart,  that  comes  to  see  the  present 
sonff  so  that  they  may  write  me  back  their  opinion,  greetmg  m  the  name 
of  Love  their  lord.  Already  had  a  third  almost  of  the  time  passed,  m 
which  ekch  star  shines  brightest,  when  suddenly  Amore  appeared  to  me, 
to  recall  whose  l^eing  fills  me  with  horror  Joyous  femed  Amore  to 
me  holding  my  heart  in  his  hand,  and  m  his  arms  he  held  Madonna 
sleeping,  wound  in  a  cloth.  Then  he  woke  her,  and  of  this  glowing 
heart  he  gently  gave  her  to  eat,  she  showing  signs  of  fear.  Then  I  saw 
him  go  his  way  weeping. 


i» 


V 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS  223 

fnf  i!i''!,-i°'^  *^  old  Provensal  manner,  received  the  sonnet 
ma  hostile  spint  and  answered  it  in  an  indecent  and  scoffing 
ZiT'  ut  ^"'J*^  Cavalcanti  congratulated  the  new  poet 
S  ftiends  "^*  *™^  remained  the  dearest  of 

Of  his  love  Dante  has  told  us  himself  in  a  little  book 
caUed  "  I^  Vita  Nuova  "  ("  The  New  Life  •'),  a  prose  naS 
dve  mterspereed  with  the  poems  that  owe  their  origin  to  the 
feetags  which  are  treated  in  them,  and  which  are  ii^terpreted     ^ 
m  the  prose  sections.     The  "  new  life "  is  that  life  which  ^ 

teS'/^Pr'?*'*'"fi«'^y°fl°^«-    This  love  of/     ^ 

!n^J7h-  J^  •°'^^^  °"^  ''  ^^^  ^^^  *a'  ^  come  to  life, 
™S1  .K^  Tf'  ^^^^^^  froni  heaven,  in  order  to  im- 
part to  the  world  a  ray  of  the  splendour  of  Paradise.    She 

fn^Z"  K  ^2^  \?^  ?.  *^  ""°''1«''  <=o'o"^"  she  appears 
to  him  robed  m  "the  whitest  colour  "-it  is  truly  an  appari- 

n?,'?;.TfK^^  •'°'?  ^'^^^  **'  '^  '^"'^e  down  to  Urn. 
t2uite  at  the  banning  she  is  "  that  very  youthful  angel " 

and   then  always   "that   most  noble  one."    He  scarry 

nf"^'!^  ?k""!  *?.*'"^  '°  «=^'  ^^'  by  her  own  name 
of  Beatnce,  though  this  name,  too,  has  its  lofty  meaning  • 
sheis  one  who  spreads  around  her  bUss  Ibeatitudine).  ' 

The  stoty  of  Dante's  love  is  a  veiy  simple  one.  The 
events  are  all  so  insignificant.  She  passes  him  in  the  street 
and  greets  him ;  he  sees  her  with  other  ladies  at  a  wedding 
banquet,  and  she  scoffs  at  him ;  he  learns  from  the  ladi  J 
how  she  laments  over  her  father's  death.  Such  are  the 
events  narrated :  but  they  aU  become  significant  in  the  heart 
,W  1  r?  PP^^-  I'  «  an  imier  history  of  emotions,  touch- 
ing m  Its  tenderness  and  sincere  religious  feeling.  A  breath 
ot  this  pure  worship  communicates  itself  to  us,  so  that  it 
does  not  appear  to  us  exaggerated. 

itsdf  fml^?hil '''  TT^  "^^"^  '^  ^'^  ••  '*  <=on<=eals 
itself  from  the  eyes  of  others  and  remains  for  a  long  time  a 

^cret.    So  great,  indeed,  is  Dante's  fear  lest  his^  S 

feehn^  be  exposed  to  profane  looks,  that,  when  he  cannot 

hide  the  passion  that  bums  within  him,  he  makes  peonle 

beheve  that  another  woman  is  the  caus^  of  them     tSc 

he  finds  a  beautiful  woman,  who  thus  serves  him  as  it  were 

as  a  screen.     On  her  he  turns  his  eyes  when  he  meetsle? 


224     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIaJj   LITERATURE     ^ 
to  her  apparently  his  verses  are  'addressed     4he  splendour 

^ine"ns\s'7However   on  th^  ifrtfke^Ti  Tru  h  TyX 
j::;rrd  EVBet^rXlor^^^^^^^^  withhold^  her 

^' Tlie^on^  o^the  whole    narrative    is    s<  lemn-almost 

reSu^The  poet  is  fond  of  aPP^V-g.^'Sin^s    "  O 
hi^^     Thus  he  begins  one  sonnet  with  the  hnes .     U 
voi^-  peT  la  via  d'a'mor  passate,  Atter^dete  e  guardat^ 
S'eeli  fe  dolore  alcun  quanto  il  mio  grave    ,  ana  tnese  a 
tt^  words  of  Jeremiah:  "O  vos  omnes  qui  transit  s  per 

the  same  prophet,  after  Beatrice  s  aedui,  auu  .^    -uip^ 

n  the  prophetic  Vision  (cap.  23).  acco-npamed  by  ternble 

natural'disUances,  like  the  ^eath  <rf j^^^^^^^^^^  «£  tinl^s 

example,   the   beg^"">"g/  'K  ea^n  of  light  {i.e.,  of  the 
already  since  my  birth  had  the  heaven  01  "B     V  ; 

sun^  returned  to  almost  the  same  point,  in  /expect  10  ii» 
S  revolution,  when  before  my  eyes  appearedJ^or^he/'^J 
timp  the  elorious  mistress  of  my  mind,  who  "as  cauea  oy 
mTnV  BefSe,   without  their  knowing  what  they  ^11  ^ 
thus"  (meaning,  without  their  knowing  that  she  actually 
w^s  BiTrk  t^;  dispenser  of  blissV     ^^^^^^^^ ^^,^' , 
"  One  day  it  happened  that  this  most  noble  laay  sat  in  * 
pi?ce  where  oneTard  words  of  the  Queen  of  glory  (Mary), 
and  I  was  in  a  spot,  from  which  I  saw  my  happ mess.  .  .  . 
He  avdds  the  mere  name  of  the  thing,  and  employs  instead 
some  circumlocution,  because  the  other  appeared  to  him 
torvulEar     The  city  of  Florence  is  never  named ;  it  is 
called  "the  city  in  which  my  mistress  was  set  by  the 
Hghest  'i^rdMcap-  6).  -"^  city  in  which  w^born 
liv^  and  died  the  most  noble  lady"  (cap.  41);     Beatrices 
Khert  not  designated  by  this^erm  ^as  fo^w^ :  '' ^^^^ 
this  one  was  so  closely  connected  with  this  glorious  one  Dy 
blood  relationship,  that  no  one  was  nearer  to  her       Such  a 
method  of  exposition  cannot  condescend  to  a  descnptwn  o 

the  objects:  these  are  touched  ""  y^^"/,^\'!'°'*  ^f  w 
way.     Beatrice  is  always  being  celebrated,  her   eyes,  her 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


225 


smile,  and  her  mouth  are  extolled :  but  it  is  their  influence 
and  power  that  are  insisted  on,  not  their  external  appear- 
ance. Of  the  surroundings  of  the  loved  one,  of  the  localities 
and  people,  we  are  given  only  a  few  cursory  hints.  We  have 
here  an  existence  that  lies  entirely  apart  from  actual  events ; 
these  are  shown  now  and  again  from  a  distance,  but  only  in 
order  to  give  an  impulse  to  the  rich  inner  life.  Events  are 
here  assigned  a  different  standard  for  their  relative  importance 
from  that  prevailing  in  ordinary  life. 

Beatrice  is  the  ideal  of  Platonic  love ;  the  passion  for  her 
is  th^wdy  leading  lu  virtue  and  lu  God.  "  When  she  ap- 
peared anywhere,"  Dante  says  (cap.  ii),  "there  remained  to 
me  no  enemy  in  the  world,  through  hoping  for  her  wondrous 
greeting;  rather  was  I  imbued  with  the  flame  of  charity, 
that  made  me  forgive  all  who  had  offended  me,  and  if  any- 
one had  then  asked  me  for  anything,  my  reply  would  have 
been  only  *  Lx)ve,'  with  a  countenance  clothed  with  humility.** 
She  spreads  about  her  as  it  were  an  atmosphere  of  purity. 
Wherever  she  appears,  all  eyes  are  turned  on  her,  and  when 
she  greets  anyone,  his  heart  trembles,  he  lowers  his  coun- 
tenance and  sighs  over  his  faults.  Hate  and  anger  flee  from 
before  her,  nothing  ignoble  persists  in  her  presence,  and  the 
ladies  that  accompany  her  appear  more  amiable  and  more 
virtuous  when  they  are  illumined  by  her  radiance.  Bea- 
trice's nature  is  more  that  of  an  angel  than  of  a  woman.  In 
her  there  is  nothing  earthly,  and  she  takes  no  part  in  earthly 
things;  as  on  angels*  wings  she  is  lightly  wafted  through 
this  life,  till  she  flies  back  to  that  other  life  whence  she 
came.  A  presentiment  of  her  death  pervades  the  entire 
narrative  from  the  beginning,  from  the  very  first  sonnet. 
The  angels  demand  her,  and  it  is  only  Gcd's  mercy  that 
can  refuse  her  for  a  time,  to  console  the  world  and  the 
lover. 

What  is  the  goal  of  the  lover's  desire  ?  Not  possession ; 
for  how  can  a  man  wish  to  possess  that  which  he  does  not 
consider  earthly  ?  Those  who  can  ask  why  Dante  did  not 
marry  Beatrice  have  not  rightly  understood  the  nature  of 
this  passion.  Her  look,  her  greeting,  these  are  all  that  he 
ardently  longs  for,  and  in  these  he  sees  the  fulfilment  of  his 
wishes.  And  when  she  denies  him  her  greeting,  he  is  happy 
in  considering  and  extolling  her  perfection.     "With  what 

I.  Q 


/226I    HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 


Object  dost  thou  love  thy  mistre^,  seeing  that  thou  canst 
not  endure  her  presence  ?  "  the  ladies  ask  him  (cap.  18),  and 
he  replies  :  "  The  aim  of  this  my  love  was  formerly  the  ^eet- 
ing  of  this  lady  ...  and  in  it  dwelt  the  luippmess  and  the 
wfd  of  all  my  desires.     But  since  it  pleased  her  to  withhold 
it  from  me,  my  lord  Amore  has,  m  his  mercy,  set  all  my 
happiness  in  that  which  cannot  be  taken  from  me.      And 
being  asked  what  that  might  be,  he  says :  "In  those  words 
that  extol  my  lady."    There  is  nothing  said  as  to  whether 
she  returned  his  love ;  and  we  are  scarcely  told  whether  she 
knew  anything  about  it.     The  divmity  feels  no  passion 
enough  if  he  «n  worship  it     It  is  true  that  his  imagination 
once  carries  him  away,  and  he  dreams  of  a  fabulous  happi- 
ness, of  being  together  with  the  loved  one,  m  a  boat  on  the 
solitkry  sea,  ^thout  being  disturbed  by  the  cold  world,  and 
acSan^d  only  by  his  dearest  friends.    This  mood  gave 
rise  to  the  sonnet:  "Guido,  vorrei  che  tu  e  L^po  ed  10; 
but  this   beautiful  poem,  in  which  the  mysbc  veil  is  for 
once  rent  asunder,  was  excluded  from  the  collection  of  die 
"Vita  Nuova";  it  would  not  have  harmonised  with  the 
general  note  of  that  book. 
I      Beatrice  represents  in  its  highest  perfection  that  ideal  of 
'  spiritual  love,  which  had  been  celebrated  previously  in  Ae 
verses  of  Guido  Guinicelli  and  of  Gmdo  Cayalcanti.     With 
his  first  sonnet,  Dante  had  joined  the  new  Florentine  school 
of  poetry,  that  of  the  dolce  stil  nuovo ;  with  his  first  poem 
oipZter  importance,  the  sonnet "  Donne  che  avete  intelletto 
d'Miore,"  he  took  the  place  in  it  that  was  due  to  hun.    This 
shows  no  great  innovation  as  yet,  and  Dante  can  scarcely 
Cye  intended  to  claim  such  for  himself,  when  he  makes 
Buonagiunto  Urbiciani  say  in  the  "  Purgatono    (xxiv.  49)  = 

But  say  ifhim  I  here  behold,  who  forth 
Evoked  the  new-invented  rhymes,  beginning: 
Ladies,  that  havt  mtelligemt  of  Unit. 

I     The  conventionalism  of  the  school  reappears  with  Dante. 

Here  we  have  again  Amore,  the  ruler  of  the  soul,  and  the 

'  soul  itself  in  abstractions  and  personifications,  while  gnel 

;  and  death  are  personified  too.    The  jisychological  processes 

are  depicted  in  the  traditional  manner,  that  is  to  say,  not  as 

such,  not  as  inner  occunences,  but  in  a  matenahsed  and 


•««>flMM 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS  227 

symbolical  form.  The  spirits  of  life  and  love  and  the 
thoughts  come,  go,  fly,  speak  and  struggle  with  each  other 
in  an  entirely  substantial  manner.  The  soul  speaks  with 
death,  and  complains  of  it  as  of  a  person,  that  is  accordingly 
endowed  with  all  personal  attributes.  The  parting  soul  em- 
braces  the  spirits  who  weep  because  they  lose  its  company 
(in  the  canzone,  "  E'  m'  mcresce  di  me  si  duramente  ")  If 
we  desire  to  obtain  a  clear  idea  of  the  relation  between 
Dante  s  lyrical  poetry  and  that  hailing  from  Bologna,  we 
have  only  to  read  the  sonnet  concerning  the  origin  of  love 
(  Vita  Nuova,'  cap.  20).  Dante,  too,  was  asked  by  a  friend 
to  solve  the  famous  problem,  and  he  replied  as  follows : 

Amore  e  'I  cor  gentil  sono  una  cosa,  \   / 

SI  come  '1  Saggio  in  suo  dittato  pone ;   ^ 

E  cosl  esser  Tun  sanza  Taltro  osa, 

Com'  alma  razional  sanza  ragione. 
Fagli  Natura,  quando  e  amorosa, 

Amor  per  sire  e  '1  cor  per  sua  magione, 

Dentro  alio  qual  dormendo  si  riposa 

Tal  volta  brieve  e  tal  lunga  stagione. 
Beltate  appare  in  saggia  donna  pui, 

Che  piace  agli  occhi  si  che  dentro  al  core 

Nasce  un  disio  della  cosa  piacente. 
E  tanto  dura  talora  in  costui, 

Che  fa  svegliar  lo  spirito  d 'amore, 

E  simil  face  in  donna  uomo  valente.^ 

We  may  note  here  the  grace  of  the  expression,  and  a 
certain  vivacity  in  the  image  that  reveals  the  poet  and,  as  it 
were  transforms  the  abstract  theme  into  a  little  drama.  But 
the  idea  is  m  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  school ;  the 
sage  introduced  in  the  sonnet  is  no  other  than  Guido  Guini- 
ceUi,  and  his  poem,  the  canzone  concerning  Amore  and  the  \J 
cor  gentile.  From  this  piece  Dante  borrowed  the  idea  that  a 
noble  heart  could  not  exist  without  love,  nor  love  without  a 

^  Amore  and  the  noble  heart  are  one,  as  the  sage  says  in  his  poem  ; 
and  one  can  be  without  the  other  as  little  as  a  rational  soul  without 

'^^i°.u  u  ^^"'^  "?^^^^  ^^^"^  ^'h^"  she  is  full  of  love,  Amore  as  lord, 
and  the  heart  as  his  dwelling,  in  which  sleeping  he  rests,  now  for  a 
short  and  now  for  a  long  while.  Beauty  appears  thereupon  in  a  virtuous 
ady,  who  pleases  the  eyes,  so  that  within  the  heart  is  born  a  desire  for 
the  pleasing  object.  And  at  times  this  lasts  so  long  in  him,  that  it 
awakes  the  spirit  of  love ;  and  the  same  is  caused  in  a  woman  by  a 
virtuous  man.  ^ 


t:~-'-'-^"<..*w.pi.— >  i.rti>-if   ■  J  —  ■ 


«ij,*a:  -»>.  ■>■  .*jr  "  j>i.r«fcjfc 


228      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

noble  heart ;  the  rest  is  nothing  but  the  old  theory  of  seeing 
and  pleasing,  so  that  Dante  did  not  even  display  more 
genius  in  treating  the  question  than  so  many  others. 

Dante  shared  with  his  predecessors  their  mode  of  thought, 
their  theoretical  convictions  as  to  the  essence  and  character 
of  poetry,  their  conception  of  love  and  their  entire  poetical 
apparatus.  What  distinguished  him  from  and  raised  him 
above  them  was  his  superior  poetic  gift.  He  did  not  create 
the  language,  but  he  had  mastered  it  more  thoroughly  than 
all  the  others.  He  treats  the  same  themes  in  the  same 
manner ;  but  they  are  consecrated  afresh  and  endowed  with 
originality  by  reason  of  the  depth  of  his  feeling.  He  employs 
the  traditional  forms,  but  the  subjects  treated  have  been 
experienced  by  himself :  they  come  from  the  heart  and  are 
often  expressed  with  delightful  tenderness  and  sincenty. 
Immediate  inspiration  by  the  feelings  he  himself  designated, 
in  the  verses  of  the  "Purgatorio"  mentioned  above,  as  the 
distinctive  mark  of  his  poetry. 

Filled  with  this  deep  sincerity  and  warmed  by  true  feeling, 
in  spite  of  all  its  idealism,  is  the  tender,  ethereal  image  of 
the  loved  one  as  it  appears  to  us  in  the  ballad,  "  lo  mi  son 
pargoletta  bella  e  nuova,"  a  poem  that  does  not  belong  to 
the  collection  of  the  "  Vita  Nuova,"  but  which  undoubtedly 
refers  to  Beatrice.     This  image  of  the  loved  one  is  pure  and 
sacred  as  that  of  a  Madonna,  and  yet  graceful,  almost  child- 
like, in   its  ingenuousness.     She   is   an  angel  come  from 
heaven,  and  wishes  soon  to  return  thither;  but  first  she 
desires  to  show  us  a  ray  of  her  light,  a  ray  of  the  heavenly 
place  whence  she  came.     Her  eyes  are  bright  with  all  the 
virtues  of  the  stars,  and  no  charms  were  denied  her  by  the 
Creator,  when  he  set  her  in  the  world.     And  she  rejoices  in 
her  beauty  and  purity,  and  communicates  some  of  it  to  the 
others.     She  smiles,  and  her  smile  tells  of  her  home,  of 
Paradise.     The  qualities  attributed  by  the  poet  to  his  beloved 
in  extolling  her,  are  the  same  as  were  regularly  celebrated 
ever  since  Guinicelli  wrote.     However,  we  have  no  mere 
repetition  of  commonplaces,  but  a  deeply  felt  enthusiasm 
pervades  this  glorification  and  gave  birth  to  some  of  the 
most  fragrant  blossoms  of  Italian  lyrical  poetry,  such  as  the 
sonnets,  "  Negli  occhi  porta  la  mia  donna  amore,"  "  Vede 
perfettamente  ogni  salute,"  and  especially  the  following  one : 


. 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS  229 

Tanto  gentile  e  tanto  onesta  pare 

La  donna  mia,  quand'  ella  altrui  saluta, 

Ch'ogni  lingua  divien  tremando  muta, 

E  gli  occhi  non  I'ardiscon  di  guardare. 
Ella  sen  va  sentendosi  laudare, 

Benignamente  d'umilta  vestuta, 

E  par  che  sia  una  cosa  venuta 

Di  cielo  in  terra  a  miracol  mostrare. 
Mostrasi  si  piacente  a  chi  la  mira, 

Che  da  per  gli  occhi  una  dolcezza  al  core, 

Che  'ntender  non  la  puo  chi  non  la  prova. 
E  par  che  della  sua  labbia  si  muova 

Un  spirit©  soave  pien  d'amore, 

Che  va  dicendo  all'  anima  :  sospira.^ 

In  this  sigh  of  the  soul  spiritualised  passion  has  found  its  ^/ 
true  expression.  The  beloved  is  transfigured,  but  she  has 
not  become  an  abstraction  :  the  ideal  does  not  tear  itself 
away  from  the  concrete  image  of  the  beauty  in  which  it  is 
incorporated.  We  see  the  lady,  full  of  grace  and  virtue,  go 
her  way  adorned  with  all  her  charms. 

The  first  poem  of  Dante  was  a  vision ;  so,  too,  was  his 
last,  his  great  work.  And  in  the  "Vita  Nuova,"  in  general, 
visions  play  no  small  part.  The  dream  was  regarded  by  the 
age  as  significant  and  prophetic  ;  it  is  the  form  correspond- 
ing to  a  feeling  of  presentiment  that  passes  over  into  the 
other  world.  A  vision  is  depicted  in  the  canzone  that  is 
rightly  considered  to  be  the  most  perfect  poem  of  this  first 
period  of  Dante's  lyrical  work.  It  begins  with  the  words — 
"  Donna  pietosa  e  di  novella  etade."  Here  it  is  pain  that 
unfetters  the  poetry  and  frees  it  from  all  conventional 
elements.  Once,  while  the  poet  himself  is  ill,  the  thought 
comes  to  him  that  Beatrice,  too,  will  die,  and  that  he  will 
lose  her.  Thereupon  he  falls  asleep  and  dreams  that  she  is 
really  dead.     And  he  sees  women  going  about  weeping  and 

^  So  noble  and  so  honourable  appears  my  lady,  when  she  greets  anyone, 
that  every  tongue  trembling  becomes  dumb,  and  the  eyes  do  not  dare  to 
look  at  her.  She  goes  her  way  when  she  hears  herself  praised,  gently 
clothed  with  humility,  and  she  appears  as  a  being  come  from  heaven  to 
earth.in  order  to  show  us  a  miracle.  So  pleasing  she  shows  herself  to  him 
who  beholds  her,  that  through  the  eyes  she  sends  a  joy  into  the  heart, 
that  only  he  can  understand  who  experiences  it  himself.  And  from  her 
lip  appears  to  move  a  gentle  spirit  full  of  love,  that  says  to  the  soul : 
**  Sigh." — There  may  be  a  connection  between  this  sonnet  and  Guide 
Cavalcanti's  **Chi  e  quella  che  vien." 


■I 


230     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

with  unbound  tresses.  He  sees  the  sun  darkened  and  the 
moon  appear,  and  the  birds  faUing  from  the  air  and  the  earth 
trembling,  and  one  of  his  friends  appears  to  him  with  dis- 
coloured face  and  cries  to  him  :  "  What  art  thou  doing  ? 
Dost  thou  not  know  the  tidings  ?  Dead  is  thy  mistress  that 
was  so  beautiful." 

Che  fai  ?  non  sai  novella  ? 
Morta  h  la  donna  tua,  ch'era  si  bella. 

And  he  raises  his  eyes  streaming  with  blood,  and  sees  the 
angels  returning  to  heaven  "  even  as  a  rain  of  manna,"  and 
before  themselves  they  have  a  little  cloud,  and  all  sing 
"  Hosanna  "  : 

E  vedea  (che  parean  poggia  di  manna) 
Gli  angeli  che  tornavan  suso  in  cielo, 
Ed  una  nuvoletta  avean  davanti, 
Dope  la  qual  cantavan  tutti  Osanna. 

And  thereupon  he  goes  to  behold  the  mortal  remains  of  his 
beloved,  and  sees  women  covering  her  with  a  veil,  and  over 
her  was  spread  such  true  gentleness,  that  she  seemed  to  say, 
"  I  am  in  peace."  When  he  has  seen  that,  he,  too,  begins  to 
call  on  Death,  to  beseech  and  extol  him ;  for  henceforth  he 
must  be  full  of  charm,  and  must  show  compassion,  not 
wrath,  since  he  has  been  in  that  most  beautiful  lady : 

Morte,  assai  dolce  ti  tegno  ; 
Tu  dei  omai  esser  cosa  gentile, 
Poiche  tu  se'  nella  mia  donna  stata, 
E  dei  aver  pietate  e  non  disdegno. 

The  poem  is  moving  in  its  simplicity.  A  whole  world  of 
feeling,  of  painful  recollections,  is  compressed  in  those  few 
words,  "  Morta  h  la  donna  tua  ch'  era  si  bella,"  and  we  can 
already  recognise  the  poet  of  the  "  Commedia  "  and  his 
capacity  to  bring  before  our  soul,  in  a  few  traits,  a  complete 
image,  instinct  with  feeling  : 

Ed  avea  seco  nmilt^  si  verace 

Che  parla  che  dicesse  :  io  son  in  pace. 

The  figure  of  the  departed  one  lies  at  rest,  in  such  calm 
repose,  that  we  long  for  her  peace.  It  was  thus  that  painters 
depicted  the  death  of  the  saints. 

It  is  curious,  considering  this  piece,  that  Beatrice's  death 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


231 


itself  should  not  have  inspired  any  poem  of  distinction.  The 
canzone,  "Gli  occhi  dolenti  per  piet^  del  core,"  which 
refers  to  it,  contains,  perhaps,  only  two  of  these  expressive 
and  touching  verses : 

Chiamo  Beatrice,  e  dico  :  Or  se'  tu  morta ! 
E  mentre  ch'io  la  chiamo,  mi  conforta. 

Beatrice  died  on  June  9th,  1290,  in  her  twenty-fourth  or 
twenty-fifth  year.     The  "Vita  Nuova,"  that  is  to  say,  the 
collection  of  the  poems  and  the  addition  of  the  prose  text, 
was  not  begun  till  after  her  death.     It  is  everywhere  plain 
that  the  commentary  is  much  later  than  the  poems,  as,  for 
instance,  in  the  case  of  the  very  first  sonnet.      The  true 
meaning  of  the  dream,  says  Dante,  with  reference  to  the 
presentiment  of  his  beloved's  death  contained  in  the  last 
verse,  was  not  seen  by  anyone  at  the  time ;  but  now  it  is 
plain  to  the  dullest,  that  is  to  say,  the  prophecy  is  now  ful- 
filled and  Beatrice  is  no  more.     The  close  of  the  narrative 
goes  more   than  a  year  beyond   Beatrice's  death.     That 
brings  us  to  the  year  1292  as  the  date  of  the  composition 
of  the  book,  and  this  agrees  with  what  Dante  says  in  the 
"  Convivio"  (i.  i)  that  it  was  written  at  the  beginning  of  his 
youth,  that  is  to  say,  after  the  twenty-fifth  year,  and  almost 
exactly  with  the  words  of  Boccaccio  in  his  "  Vita  di  Dante," 
to  the  effect  that  the  author  wrote  it  when  he  was  "about 
twenty-six  years  old  " — more  correct  would  have  been,  "  at 
the   age  of  twenty-six."     Another  opinion,   according   to 
which   the  "Vita  Nuova"   belongs  to    the  year    1300,    I 
regard  as   refuted,   after  Fornaciari's  examination   of  the 
facts. 

Love  in  so  transfigured  and  exalted  a  form  as  it  is  repre- 
sented in  the  "Vita  Nuova,"  that  intimate  fusion  of  a 
symbol  and  a  concrete  being,  became  difficult  to  understand 
in  later  ages.  Many  doubted  whether  this  love  had  ever 
been  actually  felt,  while  others  could  not  conceive  that  the 
object  of  it  was  a  mortal  person,  and  consequently  endea- 
voured to  regard  Dante's  Beatrice  as  a  mere  symbol  and 
allegory,  as  the  personification  of  the  poet's  own  thoughts, 
not  having  any  basis  on  an  actual  personaUty.  Boccaccio 
relates  in  his  "  Vita  di  Dante,"  that  the  lady  celebrated  by 
the  poet  was  the  daughter  of  Folco  Portinari,  and  this  state- 


232      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

ment  is  repeated  in  his  Dante  commentary  (lez.  viii., 
p.  224),  with  the  addition,  that  the  authority  for  it  rests  with 
a  trustworthy  person,  who  had  known  Beatrice,  and  been 
connected  with  her  in  very  close  blood  relationship.  Of 
this  Bice  Portinari  we  know  from  the  will  of  her  father,  that 
on  January  15th,  1288,  the  date  at  which  the  document  was 
drawn  up,  she  was  the  wife  of  Messer  Simone  de'  Bardi. 
That  Dante  should  have  loved  and  celebrated  a  married 
woman  can  cause  but  little  surprise,  in  view  of  the  man- 
ners of  the  age ;  the  troubadours  always  extolled  married 
women,  and  the  Italian  poets  probably  did  likewise,  though 
in  their  case  we  have  no  positive  testimony.  It  was  just 
from  these  relations  that  chivalrous  love  took  its  origin, 
as  Gaston  Paris  has  demonstrated  in  such  a  brilliant 
manner,  and  the  mystical  and  spiritual  love  had  nothing  to 
alter  in  this  respect.  Dante's  passion  was  for  the  angel,  not 
for  the  earthly  woman ;  her  marriage  belonged  to  her 
earthly  existence,  with  which  the  poet  was  not  concerned. 
We  must  beware  of  confounding  our  age  with  that  of  Dante. 
What  a  terrible  event  for  the  poets  of  our  day  is  the  marriage 
of  the  loved  one  to  another !  What  tempests  in  the  heart, 
what  complaints,  what  despair  !  Dante  does  not  allude  to 
the  event  by  a  single  word.  But  it  would  be  wrong  to 
deduce  from  this  fact  that  it  never  took  place  ;  it  was  merely 
something  of  which  that  poetry  took  no  heed,  and  which 
could  find  no  place  in  it.  Accordingly  we  have  no  valid 
reasons  for  doubting  Boccaccio's  statement.  The  houses  of 
the  Portinari  were  close  to  those  of  the  Alaghieri,  and  Folco 
Portinari  died  on  December  31st,  1289,  which  date  tallies 
very  well  with  the  passage  in  the  "Vita  Nuova"  which 
treats  of  the  death  of  Beatrice's  father.  It  is  true  that 
Boccaccio  was  the  first  to  identify  Beatrice  with  the  one  of 
the  Portinari  family,  but  there  is  nothing  strange  in  that. 
Love  affairs  are  not  set  out  in  official  documents,  and  the 
report  may  well  have  been  handed  down  by  tradition  till 
some  one  wrote  the  biography  of  the  poet. 

In  the  last  century  Biscioni  endeavoured  to  prove  that 
Beatrice  was  a  personification  of  philosophy  ;  the  idea  was 
absurd,  if  only  for  the  reason  that  Dante  had  quite  a  dif- 
ferent personification  for  philosophy,  apart  from  Beatrice, 
both  in  the  "  Convivio  "  and  in  the  "  Commedia."     Rossetti 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND   MINOR  WORKS 


233 


tA 


>. 


who,  in  his  political  fantasies  concerning  the  old  Ghibelline 
poets,  regarded  all  their  mistresses,  and  especially  Beatrice, 
as  symbols  of  the  Imperial  power,  never  had  a  large  follow- 
ing. Francesco  Perez,  in  his  book,  "  La  Beatrice  Svelata  " 
(Palermo,  1865),  surrounded  his  interpretation  with  an 
elaborate  display  of  scholastic  learning,  which,  however,  on 
closer  examination,  proves  to  be  a  somewhat  superficial  col- 
lection of  ideas  taken  from  medieval  philosophy,  that  are 
frequently  misunderstood,  and  perhaps  intentionally  dis- 
torted. The  Beatrice,  both  of  the  "  Vita  Nuova  "  and  of 
the  "  Convivio "  was,  according  to  him,  the  active  in- 
telligence of  the  Averrhoistic  AristoteUan  doctrine.  Dante's 
mistress  would  therefore  be  identical  with  the  lady  of 
Francesco  da  Barberino,  and  of  the  poet  of  the  '*In- 
telligenzia."  However,  Perez  smuggled  this  whole  idea  of 
an  active  intelligence  as  a  separate  substance  into  Dante's 
philosophy,  as  into  that  of  Thomas  Aquinas.  More  recently 
the  allegorical  interpretation  of  Beatrice  was  expounded 
with  great  energy  by  Vittorio  Imbriani,  who,  however,  did 
not  disclose  what  was  hidden  behind  the  veil ;  while  Bartoli 
does  not,  it  is  true,  regard  Beatrice  as  a  regular  allegory, 
but  still  as  an  abstraction,  as  a  mere  creation  of  Dante's 
fancy,  that  is  to  say,  as  a  general  ideal  of  beauty  and 
womankind,  such  as  he  imagined  to  have  proved,  on  the 
strength  of  a  very  faulty  line  of  reasoning,  also  for  the  other 
poets  of  the  Florentine  school.  One  of  the  main  arguments 
of  Imbriani  and  Bartoli  for  refusing  to  recognise  the  "  Vita 
Nuova"  as  a  historical  narrative  is,  that,  by  publishing  it, 
Dante  would  have  been  guilty  of  a  criminal  indiscretion, 
and  sullied  the  good  name  of  his  beloved  after  her  death. 
But  they  do  not  consider  that,  even  though  Dante  may  have 
called  a  mere  creature  of  his  imagination  Beatrice  or  Bice, 
every  uninitiated  person  must  have  regarded  her  as  a  real 
being,  as,  indeed,  was  done  by  the  whole  world  for  centuries, 
till  the  more  modern  commentators,  with  their  deep  and  sharp 
scrutiny,  gave  us  the  unexpected  information ;  and  that, 
since,  in  Dante's  time,  there  was  in  Florence  and  in  his 
immediate  neighbourhood,  a  Bice  to  whom  the  allusions  to 
the  abstraction  happened  to  apply,  her  reputation  was  in 
danger  of  suffering,  whether  he  meant  her  or  not.  All  this 
being  based  on  the  assumption,  the  truth  of  which  I  do  not 


.■^-  -i  1   *~-* 


# 


^ 


234     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

by  any  means  admit,  that  what  Dante  had  said  of  Beatrice 
was,  in  that  age,  capable  of  endangering  a  woman's  reputation. 
Besides,  when  was  the  book  pubHshed,  and  did  it,  when  it 
first  appeared,  pass  beyond  a  narrow  circle  of  friends  ?  And, 
when  it  became  more  widely  known,  was  the  husband  of 
the  dead  woman  still  living,  who  alone  could  have  objected 
to  such  a  passion  ?  Moreover,  if  it  was  a  mere  error  on  the 
part  of  the  people  to  regard  Beatrice  as  a  real  being,  it 
seems  strange  that  Dante  nowhere  protested  against  it.  And 
he  had  an  opportunity  which  would  even  have  impelled 
him  to  correct  the  general  misunderstanding,  if  any  such 
existed.  When  he,  in  his  later  work,  the  '*  Convivio,"  con*, 
tinually  set  Beatrice  against  his  other  mistress,  designated  as 
Donna  pietosa  or  Donna  gentile^  and  when,  at  such  length, 
he  showed  the  latter  to  be  a  mere  allegory,  why  did  he  not 
do  the  same  for  the  former  ?  He  is  so  solicitous,  lest  the 
lady  celebrated  in  his  allegorical  canzoni  should  be  con- 
sidered a  woman  of  flesh  and  blood;  and  yet  the  danger 
was  as  great  for  Beatrice,  nay,  greater,  seeing  that  he  had 
treated  of  her  in  prose,  giving  some  more  precise  details 
concerning  her  life.  Why,  then,  did  he  not  endeavour  to 
provide  against  this  danger  ?  There  can  be  no  other  expla- 
nation, than  that  she  was  generally  considered  to  be  the 
real  person  that  she  actually  was. 

It  is  an  easy  matter  to  detect  in  such  a  narrative  apparent 
contradictions,  improbabilities,  and  incongruities,  if  one 
compares  them  with  our  present  manners  and  mode  of 
thought ;  but  it  is  far  more  difficult  to  take  the  allegorical 
interpretation  seriously  and  to  explain  by  its  aid  all  the 
allusions  to  actual  circumstances.  When  this  is  attempted, 
absurdities  and  lapses  of  taste  appear,  and  in  order  to  save 
the  poet  from  the  reproach  of  apparent  improprieties,  foolish 
and  fantastic  thoughts  are  attributed  to  him  that  are  really 
unworthy  of  him,  and  ideas  that  are  absolutely  impossible 
for  his  time.  These  consequences  that  result  from  the 
system  of  over-subtle  interpretation,  really  suffice  in  them- 
selves to  condemn  it.  Beatrice  became  for  Dante  a  symbol, 
and  in  the  "  Commedia  "  she  signifies  heavenly  light,  revela- 
tion, and  theology.  But  the  symbol  is,  according  to  Dante's 
allegorical  method,  attached  to  the  concrete  person,  and 
springs  from  it.    The  actual  personality  remains  from  begin- 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND   MINOR  WORKS  235 

ning  to  end,  and  the  symbolical  meaning  is  subjected  to  it 
in  a  secondary  sense. 

Beatrice  died  when  the  poet  was  twenty-five  years  old, 
and  with  her  death  ended  the  first  period  of  his  lyrical 
poetry  that  had  been  inspired  by  her.  In  his  great  sorrow 
he  sought  solace  by  reading  the  book  that  had  comforted 
so  many  in  the  Middle  Ages, the  "Consolatio  Philosophise" 
of  Boethius,  and  then  also  Cicero's  "  De  Amicitia."  At 
first  he  succeeded  only  with  difficulty  in  penetrating  the 
thoughts  of  these  authors ;  but  finally  he  mastered  them, 
being  aided  by  his  knowledge  of  Latin  and  by  his  natural 
talents.  This  is  the  beginning  of  Dante's  philosophical 
studies  which  were,  therefore,  due  to  an  inner  craving  on 
his  part,  and  always  intimately  connected  with  his  emotional 
life.  He  seeks  in  the  books  consolation  for  the  misfortune 
that  has  befallen  him,  and  he  finds  more  than  he  sought : 
the  view  of  that  treasure  of  wisdom  is  opened  to  him  that 
was  with  him  throughout  the  remainder  of  his  life,  and  aided 
him  in  maintaining  his  loftiness  of  character  in  the  midst  of 
necessity  and  sorrow.  He  begins  to  attend  the  schools  of 
the  priests  and  the  disputations  of  the  philosophers,  and  in 
the  comparatively  short  space  of  about  thirty  months,  he  has 
acquired  so  much  knowledge,  that  for  love  of  it  all  other 
thoughts  disappear  ("  Conv."  ii.  13).  In  the  "Convivio" 
he  says  that  before  he  had  seen  many  things  "as  in  a 
dream,"  that  is  to  say  not  clearly,  which  might  be  remarked 
in  the  "  Vita  Nuova  ; "  and,  indeed,  erudition  is  not  entirely 
absent  from  this  book.  It  is  seen,  though  not  displayed  to 
advantage,  in  the  pedantic  divisions  of  the  poems,  which 
were  generally  adopted  by  commentators  of  that  period  and 
later,  and  which  at  times,  after  a  poem  warm  with  emotion, 
have  on  the  reader  the  effect  of  a  cold  plunge-bath.  This 
erudition  appears  in  the  passage  where  he,  on  the  occasion  of 
Beatrice's  death,  occupies  himself  with  the  symbolism  of  the 
number  nine,  that  recurs  so  frequently  in  the  dates  of  her 
life,  recalling  the  fact  that  there  are  nine  heavens,  referring 
to  Ptolemy  and  astronomy,  and  finally  discovering  that 
Beatrice  herself  was  a  nine,  that  is  to  say,  a  miracle,  whose 
sole  root  is  in  the  Holy  Trinity,  a  point,  the  subtlety  of 
which,  especially  in  this  context,  is  offensive  to  our  feeling, 
but  not  to  that  of  the  medieval  reader,  who  believed  in  such 


i 


Ui 


236     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

symbolical  meanings,  and  saw  the  hand  of  God  in  the 
marvellous  disposition.  Twice  in  the  little  book  Aristotle 
is  quoted.  But  all  this  is  due  rather  to  recollections  of 
lessons  received  in  early  youth,  than  to  the  earnest  studies 
that  came  later. 

Dante's  philosophy  is  that  of  the  schoolmen  :  it  is  closely 
related  to  theology  and  bounded  by  this  science.    Theology 
is  the  loftiest  of  sciences,  to  which  all  the  others  are  sub- 
[ected,  and  towards  which  all  of  them,  not  excluding  philo- 
\     sophy,  take  up  a  servile  position.     Damian's  famous  saying 
\     still  had  its  full  force.     Human  reason  has  its  limit,  beyond 
1     which  it  cannot  pass,  and  which  it  may  not  even  attempt  to 
\    overstep :  beyond  this  point  divine  grace  alone  can  give 
\    light.     The  highest  principles,  God,  the  angels  and  original 
V   matter  (the  materia  prima)  cannot  be  grasped  by  us  :  of 
\  them  we  know  through  faith  alone.    The  most  perfect  proof 
\  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  is  supplied  by  the  Christian 
doctrine  :  "  We  see  it  perfectly  through  faith  ;  and  through 
reason  we  see  it  with  a  shadow  of  obscurity,  which  arises 
from  a  mingling  of  the  mortal  and  immortal  elements  within 
.  us"  ("Conv."'  ii.  9).     The  teaching  of  the  Church  supplies 
^he  philosopher  with  a  given  subject  matter,  which  he  may 
elaborate  and  explain,  and  from  which  he  may  make  his 
deductions,  but  which  he  is  not  permitted  to  ignore  or  to 
/  invalidate.     He  seeks  truth  by  a  different  way,  but  theology 
has  the  last  word.     In  his  discourse  concerning  the  grafting 
of  the  divine  principle  on  to   the  soul  ("  Conv."  iv.   21), 
Dante  closes  the  natural,  that  is  to  say,  the  philosophical 
\      exposition  with  the  words :  "  And  this  is  almost  all  that  can 
be  said  on  the  basis  of  natural  recognition."     And  then 
follows  the   devout  and  enthusiastic  exposition  based  on 
theological  doctrines  {per  via  teologica).     But  philosophy  is 
not  useless ;  as  with  Thomas  Aquinas,  so,  too,  with  Dante, 
the  illumination  of  grace  is  made  to  pre-suppose  reason  and 
its  uses,  and  the  natural  light.     Philosophy  becomes  a  sup- 
port  of  religion,  and   in   the  canzone  "Amor   che   nella 
mente  mi  ragiona,"  philosophy  is  said  to  "  aid  our  faith ; 
therefore  it  was  created  from  all  eternity."     It  makes  many 
things  manifest  to  us,  and  thus  makes  us  desire  that  which 
is  concealed,  and,  as  it  lets  us  see  the  reason  of  much  that 
appears  wonderful,  "  so  one  believes  through  it,  that  every 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS  237 

miracle  may  have  its  foundation  in  a  higher  intelligence,  and 
that  it  may  therefore  exist"  ("  Conv."  iii.  14).  This  is  the 
greatest  glory,  the  highest  aim  of  earthly  wisdom— to  show 
us  the  way  to  divine  wisdom,  not  to  solve  the  problems  of 
the  world  by  itself. 

And  so  Dante  philosophised  in  a  strictly  Christian  spirit. 
It  is  open  to  doubt  whether  he  ever  forsook  this  path.  We 
have  a  trace  of  such  a  secession,  on  which  stress  was  laid 
by  Witte,  in  a  passage  of  the  "  Convivio"  (iv.  i),  where  the 
author  says  that,  at  the  period  at  which  he  composed  the 
canzone  "  Le  dolci  rime  d'amor  ch'io  solia,"  he  occupied 
himself,  among  other  things,  with  the  question  as  to  whether 
the  materia  prima  of  the  elements  was  created  by  God,  and 
that  he  had  encountered  such  difficulties  over  this  point, 
that  he  had  temporarily  given  up  philosophy,  that  is  to  say, 
strictly  speaking,  metaphysics.  Now,  this  question  was 
settled  by  the  Church.  We  have,  therefore,  some  ground 
for  supposing  that  Dante,  at  a  certain  period  of  his  life,  had, 
with  his  critical  reason,  intruded  into  realms  from  which 
reason  was  excluded  by  faith.  Then  again,  Beatrice's  re- 
proaches in  the  "Purgatorio"  (xxxiii.  85,  sqq.)  point, 
among  other  delinquencies,  also  to  presumption  in  the 
matter  of  thinking.  In  any  case,  however,  if  Dante  passed 
through  a  period  of  metaphysical  doubt,  we  must  not  look 
for  any  traces  of  it  in  the  "  Convivio  "  or  in  the  philosophical 
canzoni,  as  they  contain  nothing  beyond  the  casual  remark 
we  have  quoted. 

In  addition  to  the  authority  of  the  church,  that  brooks  no 
contradiction,  there  are  others,  less  inviolable,  but  still 
difficult  to  controvert.  Such  are  the  philosophers  of  antiquity 
-—Aristotle  and  his  Arabian  commentators  (who  were  read 
in  Latin  translations),  Plato,  known  to  Dante  only  from  the 
quotations  of  others,  Cicero,  and  Boethius ;  the  classical 
poets — Virgil,  Ovid,  Statius,  and  Lucan,  whose  narrative 
poems  were  allegorically  interpreted  or  used  as  exemplifica- 
tions of  moral  doctrines;  finally  the  great  schoolmen, 
Albertus  Magnus  and  Thomas  Aquinas.  The  science  of 
the  time  is  shackled  by  authority.  The  sayings  of  these 
great  men  are  regarded  with  the  greatest  reverence,  exercise 
a  tyrannical  influence  on  research,  and  at  times,  openly  or 
covertly,  take  the  place  of  proof.   The  doctrines  of  Aristotle, 


2^S      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

especially,  form  the  basis  of  philosophy ;  authors  are  loth 
to  reject  them,  and  do  their  utmost  to  interpret  them  and  to 
avoid  coming  into  conflict  with  them.  It  is  true  that  there 
are  cases  where  his  views  do  not  conform  to  the  teaching  of 
the  Christian  faith,  as  in  the  conception  of  the  heavenly 
intelligences,  where  Dante  owns  ("Con v."  ii.  6)  that  the 
truth  was  concealed  from  Aristotle  and  from  every  pagan. 
But  such  cases  are  rare,  and,  as  a  general  rule,  Aristotle  is,  in 
the  scholastic  philosophy,  the  best  defender  of  the  Christian 
dogmas.  Dante  held  that  in  him  profane  wisdom  had 
attained  its  most  perfect  expression.  He,  in  common  with 
Thomas  Aquinas  and  the  other  schoolmen,  calls  him  simply 
the  philosopher,^  or  the  "glorious  philosopher  to  whom 
nature  revealed  her  secrets  more  than  to  any  other" 
("Conv."  iii.  5),  the  "teacher  and  leader  of  human  reason  " 
(id.  iv.  6),  and,  in  the  "  Commedia,"  "  the  master  of  those 
that  know."  His  authority  sufficies  to  set  aside,  without 
further  ado,  that  of  the  other  philosophers,  such  as  Pytha- 
goras or  Plato  ;  when  he  expressed  his  "  divine  opinion,"  all 
the  others  must  be  abandoned  ("  Conv."  iv.  17).  He  is 
the  guide  to  that  which  constitutes  the  real  goal  of  this 
earthly  existence,  to  happiness  by  the  road  of  virtue  (t'lf, 
iv.  6).  "  The  Peripatetics,"  Dante  says,  "  now  rule  the 
entire  world  in  science,  and  so  their  teaching  may  almost  be 
called  Catholic." 

Dante's  philosophy  is  that  of  his  age.  We  must  not 
endeavour  to  find  in  it  any  originality  or  special  importance. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  it  merely  reproduces  the  doctrines  of 
Thomas  Aquinas,  at  times  also  those  of  Bonaventura,  with 
certain  modifications  and  developments  in  particular  points. 
Most  of  these  doctrines  are  laid  down  in  a  work  that  was 
composed  considerably  later,  the  "  Convivio,"  and  they  fill 
the  "  Commedia,"  for  the  comprehension  of  which  poem  it 
is  necessary  to  be  acquainted  with  them.  The  "  Convivio  " 
(Banquet)  is  a  very  full  commentary  to  several  of  the  poet's 
canzoni — a  commentary  which,  seeing  that  it  dilates  at 
length  on  every  subject  that  is  only  casually  touched  in  the 
poems,  would  have  become  an  encyclopaedia,  though  not  a 
systematic  one,  of  the  entire  knowledge  of  the  time,  if  the 

*  **Nametautomatice,  id  est  excellenter  *  philosophus  *  appelatur," 
said  John  of  Salisbury,  "  Metalogicus, "  ii.  i6. 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND   MINOR  WORKS 


239 


author  had  not  broken  off  on  completing  about  a  fourth 
part  of  the  work,  which,  however,  contains  what  was  prob- 
ably of  most  importance. 

Moralising  predominates  in  these  treatises.      But  more 
interesting  for  us  than  this,  which  in  its  general  abstraction 
is  similar  in  all  philosophical  systems,  is  the  metaphysical 
portion  of  Dante's  work,  above  all,  the  doctrine  of  the  soul, 
its  origin  and  destiny,  and   the  general  treatment  of  this 
philosophical  problem,  at  all  times,  and  especially  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  considered  one  of  paramount  importance,  and 
which  subsequently  became  the  subject  of  the  "  Commedia." 
As  with  Aristotle,  the  soul  is  the  entelecheia  (form)  of  the 
body.     After  it  has  been  formed  in  its  lower  functions,  and 
thus   become   living,   the   soul,   as   is   likewise  taught   by 
Aristotle,  receives  from  above  its  divine  portion,  the  intel- 
lectus  possibilis,  so  called,  because  it  "  contains  potentially 
within  itself  the  universal  forms,"  the  pure  form  of  reason, 
which  is  existent  before  the  reception  of  the  individual  con- 
ceptions, while  the  intellectus  agens  designates  the  intellect 
in  the  state  of  activity,  filling  itself  with  conceptions  (iv.  21). 
Divine  goodness  gives  the   soul  as  much   of  itself  as  it 
deserves,  that  is,  after  the  created  being  has  been  prepared 
for  this  by  natural  disposition.     Divine  goodness  descends 
into  every  object  that  is  created,  but  the  objects  receive  it 
in  various  manners,  just  as  bodies  receive  the  sun's  rays  in 
various  manners.     Into  the  pure  intelligences  or  separate 
substances,  the  angels,  God  radiates  without  interruption, 
but  into  the  other  creatures  with  a  broken  light,  which  is 
reflected  by   these    very   intelligences  while   they  lovingly 
move  the  heavens  (iii.   14).     Thus  arises  a  gradation   in 
created  things,  from  the  angels   to  inorganic  matter,  and 
similarly  a  gradation  in  humanity,  reaching  from  the  angelic 
to  the  bestial.     The  divine  spark  in  the  soul  impels  it  to 
love  itself,  but  in  true  fashion,  that  is,  the  better  part  of 
itself,  the  spirit  and  what  belongs  to  it,  namely,  virtuous  life, 
and  the  contemplative  even  more  than  the  active  (iv.  22). 
The  practice  of  virtue  is,  according  to  Aristotle's  doctrine, 
human  happiness,  and  this,  Dante,  in  the  "  Convivio,"  con- 
siders to  be  also  true  human  nobihty.     The  highest  form  of 
happiness  is  the  contemplation  of  the  -highest  that  is  in- 
telligible, namely,  God.      The  soul  longs  for  God  as  the 


::-XLJ.lf  ■..':^-i.&^ 


240     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

highest  good,  and  is  therefore  impelled  towards  all  that  dis- 
plays excellence,  as  this  derives  from  God.  However,  it  goes 
astray  by  taking  every  object  at  first  to  be  the  true,  entire  and 

Sn!  ^PnH  h'  ir  r  ^'°°\  ?"^  '°  ^^^  <''^«^'  ''"  it  attains 
ts  goal,  God  Himself  (iv.  12).'    This  is  the  way  of  life ;  but 

there  are  many  roads,   both  straight  and  crooked.      The 

highest  happiness  is  not  possible  on  earth ;  for  that  the 

other  life  is  necessary,  to  which  the  theological  virtues  lead 

and  in  which  mercy  grants  us  peace  and  satisfaction  in  God' 

From  this  train  of  thought  we  obtain  also  a  philosophical 

derivation  of  love.     It  is  defined  as  "  spiritual  union  of  the 

for  rT,H  '^'  fi^r^K  °^''  "  ('"•  ^>-  The  soul  that  longs 
for  God  and  finds  the  divine  spark  in  another  soul,  longs 
tor  this  soul,  and  desires  to  become  united  with  it  all  the 
more  strongly  in  proportion  as  it  is  more  perfect,  and  as  the 
divine  element  is  more  apparent  in  it 

Connected  with  this  theological  philosophy  is  astronomy, 
which  describes  the  outward  form  of  the  world  that  is  oer- 
meated  with  God    the  abodes  of  the  world   beyond,  and 
their  relation  to  the  earth.     In  addition  to  this,  astronomy 
went  hand  in  hand  with  astrology,  that  was  so  jealously 
cultivated  in  the  Middle   Ages  and  at  the  time  of  the 
Renaissance.      This  science  Dante  did  not  recognise  un- 
conditionally;   still,   in   common    with  all  the  intelligent 
people  of  his    time,    he   attributed   to  the  constellations 
a  decisive  influence  on  the  disposition  of  souls  at  their 
birth,  with  the  provision  that  free  will  was  not  to  be  re 
garded  as  set  aside,  and  that  the  capacity  for  resisting  this 
influence  was  to  be  held  to  exist.    Accordingly  a  large  space 
of  the   "Convivio"  is  devoted  to  astronomical   matters 
Among  other  doctnnes  that  are  of  special  importance  also 
for  the  comprehension  of  the  "  Commedia,"  is  that  of  the 
nine  heavens,  which  surround  one  another  in  the  form  of 
spheres,  and  the  immovable  centre  of  each  of  which  is  the 
earth  (u.  3-6).     The  seven  lower  ones  are  the  planets, 
'  Bonaventura,  "  Itinerar.   Mentis  in  Deum  "  ran   -. .  at.-*  v 

,Uud,ve  quod  habetahquam  effi^cm  illius.     Tanta  «/  vis  siZmit^ 

utnM  msi  fiir  tlhus  disiderium  a  crealura  fossil  amari      oZt"!^ 

falUtur  et  crrat,  cum  ,ffi^,„  et  simulachrum  pro  ZeriaU^ceiZ 

Almost  the  same  thought  occurs  also  in  BoethiiS,  <•  Phil  Cotl^  fi'; 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


241 


among  which  were  reckoned  the  sun  and  the  moon.  Then  fol- 
lows that  of  the  fixed  stars,  and  then  the  first  movable  heaven, 
the  Primo  Mobile^  also  called  the  crystal  heaven,  because  it 
is  not  visible — entirely  transparent,  and  recognisable  only  by 
its  motion.  Finally,  above  all  the  rest,  extends  the  motion- 
less tenth  heaven,  the  Empyrean,  the  heaven  of  pure  light, 
in  which  the  Deity  and  the  blessed  spirits  have  their  seat. 
And  from  the  circumstance  that  every  portion  of  the  Primo 
Mobile  desires  to  be  united  with  every  portion  of  the  blessed 
and  peaceful  Empireo,  arises  its  inconceivably  rapid  motion, 
by  means  of  which  it  makes  the  revolution  from  east  to 
west  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours,  and  transfers  its  own 
motion  to  the  other  spheres.  The  nine  heavens  are  turned 
by  the  hierarchy  of  intelligences  or  angels,  which  are,  accord- 
ing to  the  Christian  doctrine,  divided  into  nine  orders,  and 
which  acquire  their  power  by  regarding  the  highest  good 
with  looks  full  of  love.  This,  too,  is  the  power  that  descends 
to  the  earth  with  the  rays  of  each  star,  and  influences  the 
minds  and  destinies  of  mankind.  In  the  same  way  as  the 
philosophical  doctrines  are  mostly  taken  by  the  schoolmen 
and  by  Dante  from  Aristotle  and  his  commentators,  so  they 
derived  their  astronomy  from  Ptolemy  and  Avicenna ;  how- 
ever, they  corrected  and  supplemented  both  their  philosophy 
and  their  astronomy  by  means  of  the  dogmas  of  the 
Church. 

If  we  examine  the  "  Convivio  "  solely  with  a  view  to  find- 
ing Dante's  opinions  on  scientific  questions,  we  fail  to  grasp 
the  characteristic  element  of  the  book  and  of  his  knowledge 
in  general.  It  was  his  temperament  to  feel  everything  keenly 
and  ardently,  so  that  everything  became  with  him  a  longing 
and  a  passion  ;  it  is  just  this  that  made  him  the  great  poet. 
Knowledge  did  not  remain  for  him,  as  with  Brunetto  Latini, 
a  dead  possession,  a  mere  collection  of  learned  details,  but 
it  became  a  living  emotion.  Everything  was  pervaded  by 
his  powerful  personality.  Pure  science,  which  should  exclude 
all  individuality  as  far  as  possible,  may  have  suffered  from 
this,  and  we  should  not  value  Dante's  science  too  highly. 
What  interests  us  most  in  his  scientific  studies  is,  after  all, 
his  own  personality.  Love  is  defined  by  him  philo- 
sophically, but  philosophy  itself  becomes  love  in  his  eyes  : 
it  is  a  "  loving  commerce  with  wisdom  "  (iii.  12). 

I.  R 


i  ^ 


242      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

The  "  Convivio  "  is  a  product  of  scholasticism,  with  its 
heavy  and  syllogistic  mode  of  exposition,  its  subtleties,  its 
prolixity  that  endeavours  to  fathom  and  to  prove  everything, 
the  smallest  and  clearest  points  as  well  as  the  greatest  and  most 
obscure.  Nowadays  this  would  be  pedantry  ;  in  the  Middle 
Ages  it  was  the  universal  and  necessary  method  of  scientific 
research.  This  system  is  carried  to  its  extreme  in  the 
elaborate  comparison  of  the  sciences  with  the  ten  heavens 
(ii.  14,^^.),  grammar  with  the  Moon,  dialectic  with  Mercury, 
rhetoric  with  Venus,  and  so  on  till  we  get  to  the  Empyrean, 
which  is  supposed  to  correspond  to  theology ;  the  strange 
proofs  for  each  comparison  are  also  worthy  of  note.  But 
this  cloak  of  heavy  pedantry  cannot  conceal  the  poet  and 
the  man  from  us.  Dante's  very  conception  of  the  universe 
gives  play  to  the  imagination.  Full  of  poetry  is  the  astro- 
nomical theory,  the  idea  of  the  origin  of  the  heavenly  re- 
volution, of  love  as  the  principle  of  the  motion  ;  love  and 
light  that  permeate  the  entire  .universe  and  awaken  every 
living  thing  and  every  instinct,  the  contrast  between  the  in- 
conceivable rapidity  of  the  crystalline  heaven  and  the 
blessed  place  of  the  divine  Empyrean,  from  which  never- 
theless the  movement  is  derived.  We  recognise  the  poet  in 
certain  images  of  great  beauty,  as  in  the  passage  (iv.  12) 
where  Dante  compares  the  soul  in  quest  of  God  with  the  pil- 
grim, who,  traversing  an  unknown  road,  regards  every  house 
that  he  sees  as  the  inn,  and  when  he  is  disillusioned,  **  fixes 
his  faith  on  another,  and  so  from  house  to  house,"  till  he 
reaches  the  true  inn  ;  or  in  that  other  passage  (iv.  27)  where 
he  says  of  the  aged  man,  who  spreads  the  utility  of  the 
wisdom  he  has  gathered  in  the  course  of  a  long  life,  by 
giving  others  the  benefit  of  it,  that  he  resembles  the  rose 
that  can  no  longer  remain  closed,  and  exhales  the  fragrance 
that  has  accumulated  in  it.  Then  again  we  find  many  ex- 
pressions full  of  vivacity  and  pictorial  power,  as  when  he 
calls  laughter  (iii.  8)  "  a  flashing  forth  of  the  joy  of  the  soul, 
that  is,  a  light  that  appears  without  even  as  it  is  within." 

And  while  he  gives  his  instructions  for  the  attainment  of 
virtue,  the  reality  presents  itself  to  his  mind's  eye  and  im- 
bues his  discourse  with  a  breath  of  life.  He  looks  around 
him,  and  utters  words  of  warning  and  reproach,  when  he 
sees  the  world  leaving  the  true  road.     "  Oh  my  unhappy, 


/ 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


243 


\ 


my  unhappy  country,"  he  exclaims,  when  speaking  of  justice 
and  government,  "  what  pity  seizes  me  for  thee,  as  often  as 
I  read,  as  often  as  I  write  concerning  the  government  of  the 
state  "  (iv.  27) ;  and  after  praising  the  country  that  is  ruled  by 
wisdom,  he  turns  to  the  princes  of  the  time,  and  especially  to 
Charles  and  Frederick,  the  kings  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  who 
would  do  better  "  to  fly  low  like  the  swallow,  than,  like  the 
hawk,  to  make  lofty  circles  over  the  vilest  things "  (iv.  6). 
When  he  wishes  to  give  an  example  for  the  fact  that  we  do 
not  become  noble  because  our  name  is  on  the  lips  of  the 
people,  he  mentions  the  shoemaker  Asdente  of  Parma,  and, 
by  the  side  of  him,  Alboino  della  Scala,  the  Lord  of  Verona 
(iv.  16).  We  have  here  the  bold  and  haughty  language  of 
the  "Commedia,"  which  strikes  by  preference  the  loftiest 
summits  with  its  bolts.  In  the  tempestuous  fervour  of  his 
conviction,  his  zeal  rises  to  passion,  when  he,  inveighing 
against  a  foolish  opinion  concerning  human  nobility,  says 
that "  one  should  reply  to  such  bestiality  not  with  words,  but 
with  the  knife"  (iv.  14). 

And  so  it  becomes  conceivable  how  this  epoch  of  scientific 
studies  could  impel  Dante  to  the  composition  of  a  fresh 
style  of  lyrical  poetry.  The  nature  of  the  inspiration  is,  it  is 
true,  very  diff"erent  from  the  early  style  of  the  "Vita  Nuova." 
We  have  here  the  transition  to  a  specifically  learned  poetry, 
that  requires  long  commentaries  for  its  comprehension,  like 
the  canzone  of  Guido  Cavalcanti,  and  the  more  so  when  this 
scientific  subject-matter  appears  in  allegorical  form.  It  was 
in  an  allegorical  cloak  of  this  nature  that  Dante  celebrated 
philosophy.  The  vulgar  tongue  did  not  appear  to  him  to  be 
worthy  of  treating  so  lofty  a  theme  in  its  true  shape.  But,  in 
addition  to  this,  he  desired  by  these  fictions  to  adapt  himself 
to  the  taste  of  the  public,  who  were  not  accustomed  to  see 
aught  but  love  treated  in  poems  (ii.  13).  Two  of  his 
allegorical  canzoni,  "Voi  che  intendendo  al  terzo  ciel 
movete  "  and  "  Amor  che  nella  mente  mi  ragiona,"  belong  to 
the  ones  he  interpreted  in  the  "  Convivio,"  and  he  took  this 
opportunity  of  expounding  the  doctrine  of  poetical  allegory 
and  of  the  fourfold  meaning  of  poetry  ("Conv."  ii.  i). 
"  One  must  know,"  he  says,  "that  writings  may  be  under- 
stood and  must  be  explained  mainly  in  four  senses."  The 
first  is  the  literal  meaning  (senso  litterale\  that  is,  the  one 


i 


y 


244      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

contained  in  the  fable  or  narrative  itself ;  the  second  is  the 
allegorical,  -  that  conceals  itself  under  the  cloak  of  fable  a 
truth  hidden  beneath  a  beautiful  falsehood ;  the  third,  the 
moral— a  rule  of  moral  conduct,  deduced  from  the  event 
narrated;  and  finally  the  fourth,  the  anagogic,  that  is,  a 
reference  to  the  eternal  life  ("  referred  upwards,  tntellectus 
tendens  ad  superzora,  as  Anselm  said),  the  narrative  being 
held  to  refer  to  the  soul's  condition  in  the  other  world.  \ 

Allegorical  interpretation  in  a  manifold  sense  had  long 
been  applied  to  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  it  began  in  the  early 
times   of  Christianity,   and   became   more   widely   spread, 
especially  through  the  efforts  of  Hilarius  and  Ambrosius 
We  found  it,  for  example,  in  S.  Damian  in   the  eleventh 
century.     In  the  twelfth  century  several  Latin  Poems  occu- 
pied  themselves  with  it,  the  "  De  Creatione   Mundi     of 
Hilbebert  of  Tours,  and  the  enormous  "  Aurora     of  Petrus 
de  Riga.    The  most  usual  course  in  the  earlier  period  is  the 
division   into  a  triple   sense,  the  literal,  tropological   and 
allegorical.     But  later  the  fourfold  sense  occurs  frequently, 
too!  Cassianus,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  has  an 
historical,  tropological,  allegorical,  and  anagogic  interpreta- 
tion, which  terms  are  again  used  by  Bonaventura.      Ihe 
quadruple  sense  with  the  same  names  and  the  same  con- 
ception as  in  the  "Convivio"  we  find,  among  others,  in  a 
parable  of  Anselm,  and  in  the  -  Summa  "  of  Thomas  Aquinas, 
who  was  probably,  as  usual,  Dante's  direct  source      1  he 
allegorical  interpretation  of  poetry  and  of  classical  mythology, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  no  less  old,  nay,  even  older     It  began 
with  the  Greek  philosophers,  especially  with  the  Stoics,  who 
made  the  national  faith  acceptable  to  themselves  by  thus 
seeking  for  moral  and  physical  truths  in  the  fables  :  in  this 
way  they  interpreted  Homer's  and  Hesiod's  poems.     In  the 
later  Roman  period  this  mode  of  interpretation  was  applied 
to  Virgil  by  Macrobius,  and  still  more  by  Fulgentms :  the 
"/Eneid"  was  held  to  contain  the  representation  ot  the 
phases  of  man's  development  in  the  various  periods  of  his 
life      That  Virgil  and  the  poetry  of  the  ancients,  as  a  whole, 
concealed  philosophical  truths  beneath  the  cloak  of  fable 
was  the  general  conviction  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  was 
very  frequently  expressed.    This  conception  of  ancient  myth 
and  poetry,  which  of  course  destroyed  their  real  spirit,  made 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


245 


it  possible  for  the  devout  Christian  to  occupy  himself  with 
heathen  literature,  and  contributed  in  no  small  degree 
towards  keeping  alive  the  study  of  it  throughout  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  allegorical  explanation  of  the  Bible,  to  which 
people  were  accustomed,  made  that  other  conception  appear 
all  the  more  natural.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  whether  any- 
one before  Dante  had  transferred  this  entire  biblical  system 
of  interpretation,  with  its  manifold  sense,  to  poetry,  and  it  is 
certain  that  Dante  was  the  first  to  apply  it  so  consistently 
and  with  such  distinction  to  Romance  poetry.  This  was 
connected  with  the  higher  dignity  to  which  the  latter  now 
attained.  The  vulgar  poetry,  in  striving  to  rival  that  com- 
posed in  Latin,  was  compelled  to  develop  from  the  simple, 
unconscious  pieces  which  had  been  sung  by  the  people  and 
courtly  love  poets,  into  that  more  serious  class  of  piece 
which  was  represented  by  the  Latin  poetry.  It  became  a 
science  (as  the  Middle  Ages  always  designated  things  poeti- 
cal ^),  supplied  the  truth  beneath  the  veil  of  an  image,  like 
the  Bible  and  Latin  poetry,  and  accordingly  required  the 
same  method  of  interpretation. 

The  first  and  the  second  sense,  says  Dante,  must  always  be 
defined,  while  the  third  and  fourth  are  only  touched  on 
from  time  to  time.  The  first,  the  literal,  sense  must  be 
fully  expounded,  before  the  revelation  of  the  second,  the 
allegorical,  sense  can  be  proceeded  with.  And  this  is  the 
course  he  adopts  in  interpreting  his  canzoni.  The  new 
mistress  of  whom  the  poems  speak  and  for  whom  Beatrice 
had  to  make  way,  is  no  other  than  Philosophy,  "  the  most 
fair  and  honourable  daughter  of  the  Emperor  of  the  uni- 
verse, to  whom  Pythagoras  gave  this  name"  ("Conv."ii.  i6). 
A  personification  of  philosophy  appeared  in  Boethius  and  in 
his  medieval  imitators,  Henricus  Septimellensis  and  Bono 
Giamboni ;  they  represented  her  as  an  august  and  venerable 
matron.  But  with  Dante  she  is  not  merely  the  guide  and 
teacher :  she  has  been  introduced  into  the  love-poetry  and 
has  therefore  become  his  mistress.  The  lady  who,  ever  since 
Guinicelli,  was  the  representative,  the  symbol  of  an  idea,  has 
now  herself  to  yield  to  a  personified  idea,  as  in  the  '*  Intelli- 
genzia  "  and  with  Francesco  da  Barberino.  The  beautiful  eyes 

^  "And  he  says  that  he  was  a  poet,  that  is,  one  skilled  in  the  science 
of  poetry."     "Ottimo  Commento,"  Inf.  i.  67, 


246      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

of  the  poet's  mistressare  now  "the  demonstrations  that,  directed 
to  the  eyes  of  the  intellect,  fill  the  soul  with  love  "  ("  Conv." 
ii.  16);  her  smile  stands  for  "the  persuasions,  in  which  the 
light  of  wisdom  shows  itself  under  a  veil"  (iii.  15);  the 
**  anguish  of  sighs  "  means  "  the  toil  of  study  and  the  struggle 
of  doubt "  (ii.  16) ;  "a  spirit  of  love  "  {uno  spiritel d*  amore) 
is  a  thought  that  springs  from  study ;  the  hour  in  which  one 
falls  in  love  is  that  of  the  first  demonstration ;  love  in 
general  is  study. 

However,  as  has  been  noted  already,  science,  too,  pos- 
sesses for  Dante  poetical  elements.  Love  is  to  signify  study, 
but  study  itself  is  for  him  in  reality  love,  a  sacred  fervour. 
Study,  as  he  says  (ii.  1 6),  is  "  the  occupation  of  the  mind 
enamoured  of  the  object  with  that  object."  In  his  scientific 
researches  his  feelings  are  mingled :  study  and  love  always 
appear  united,  and  this  may  still  be  found  in  the  famous 
verse  of  the  "  Commedia,"  Vaigami  U iungo  studio  e'l  grande 
amore.  This  enthusiasm  for  the  subject  penetrates  and  in- 
spires the  allegorical  canzoni,  too.  To  this  must  be  added 
another  peculiarity,  which  makes  these  poems,  in  a  measure, 
the  real  precursors  of  the  '*  Commedia,"  namely,  the  inde- 
pendent development  of  the  image,  which,  as  an  allegory,  is, 
properly  speaking,  intended  only  to  point  to  something  else, 
whereas  it  here  acquires  an  independent  importance  of  its 
own,  so  that  we  may  content  ourselves  with  the  shell,  with- 
out paying  any  heed  to  the  kernel.  For  this  reason  Dante 
makes  his  canzone  "  Voi  che  intendendo  "  say  to  those  who 
are  unable  to  penetrate  more  deeply  into  its  hidden  meaning, 
that  they  should  at  least  note  how  beautiful  it  is : 

Ponete  mente  almen  com'  io  son  bella. 

In  the  great  writers  of  antiquity  he  was  accustomed  to 
the  palpable  form  of  that  which  he  regarded  only  as  the 
shell,  and  this  satisfied  his  instinct  as  an  artist,  who  is  not 
satisfied  with  mere  phantoms.  He  went  so  far  in  this  direc- 
tion, that  when  these  canzoni  became  known,  many  thought 
that  they  were  addressed  to  a  real  mistress,  and  one  of  his 
objects  in  writing  the  "  Convivio  "  was  to  free  himself  from 
this  suspicion. 

By  the  side  of  the  canzone  on  the  vision  of  Beatrice's 
death,  the  most  perfect  of  Dante's  first  period  of  lyrical 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS  247 

poetry,  may  be  set  another  scarcely  less  beautiful  one 
belonging  to  this  second  manner— the  one  beginning  "Tre 
donne  intorno  al  cor  mi  son  venute."  These  three  allegorical 
women  represent  justice  in  its  various  manifestations,  as 
natural  disposition  {Dirittura),  as  universal  human  law,  and 
as  pohtical  law.  Despised  and  misused  by  mankind,  they 
have  fled  for  refuge  to  the  heart  of  the  poet ;  for  in  this 
heart  dwells  Amore.  He  speaks  to  the  three  women,  ex- 
horting them  not  to  weep  and  mourn.  That  may  be  left  to 
mankind,  that  suffer  by  the  treatment  accorded  to  justice, 
while  they  themselves  remain  untouched  in  their  eternal 
heights;  and  the  poet,  whowas  then  already  an  exiled  wanderer, 
rises  proudly  on  learning  with  whom  he  shares  his  fate : 

L'  esilio  che  m'  e  dato  onor  mi  tegno, 

E  se  giudizio,  o  forza  di  destine 

Vuol  pur  che  il  mondo  versi 

I  bianchi  fiori  in  persi, 

Cader  tra'  buoni  e  pur  di  lode  degno.* 

But  the  feelings  are  mingled,  according  as  they  were 
struggling  in  the  exile's  heart.  In  spite  of  the  loftiness  and 
dignity,  with  which  he  sets  himself  against  his  persecutors, 
in  the  consciousness  of  having  right  and  virtue  on  his  side, 
yet  the  close  is  sorrowful.  The  longing  for  his  country  con- 
sumes him  with  pain.  If  he  has  done  wrong,  his  fault  is 
expiated  by  his  sufferings  and  his  penance  : 

Onde  s'  io  ebbi  colpa, 

Piu  lune  ha  volto  il  sol,  poi  che  fu  spenta, 

Se  colpa  muore,  pur  che  1'  uom  si  penta.^ 

It  is  this  strong  personal  colouring  that  makes  the  poem 
so  effective.  In  the  description  of  the  first  of  the  three 
personifications  we  find  this  wonderful  picture  of  the  lament- 
ing woman : 

^  The  exile  that  is  inflicted  on  me  I  consider  an  honour;  and  if 
judgment  or  force  of  destiny  wishes,  indeed,  that  the  world  should 
change  white  flowers  into  dark  ones,  still,  to  fall  together  with  good 
folk  is  worthy  of  praise.  (The  word  buoni  of  course  refers  to  the  three 
women,  which  fact,  curiously  enough,  escaped  Witte  and  Giuliani.) 

'^  And  if  I  was  guilty  of  a  fault,  many  months  have  passed  since  it 
was  cleansed,  if  a  fault  dies  as  soon  as  the  man  repents. 


\ 


'***— ^■■-*-^— ^^  '-'^■''  ■L^^^.iigj'.-Ajij-.J.Mai.VKJlfc. 


248      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Dolesi  V  una  con  parole  molto, 

E  'n  sulla  man  si  posa 

Come  succisa  rosa ; 

II  nudo  braccio,  di  dolor  colonna, 

Sente  lo  raggio,  che  cade  dal  volto  ; 

L'  altra  man  tien  ascosa 

La  faccia  lagrimosa 

Discinta  e  scalza  e  sol  di  se  par  donna.* 

"The  bare  arm,  the  column  of  grief,"  the  bent  head  like 
the  "  broken  rose,"  such  living  plastic  images,  that  blossom 
forth  from  the  midst  of  the  allegorical  moralisation,  reveal 
to  us  the  poet  of  the  "  Commedia,"  as  we  know  him  in  his 
loftiest  mood. 

The  canzone  "  lo  sento  si  d'  amor  la  gran  possanza  " 
must  also,  in  all  probability,  be  taken  allegorically,  as, 
indeed,  is  generally  done.  This  theory  is  supported  by 
its  double  ending — the  one  of  a  general  moral  import,  the 
other  addressed  to  a  definite  person, — by  the  stress  laid  on 
the  excellence  of  the  canzone,  and  by  the  solemn  and 
exalted  tone  of  this  beautiful  poem.  Specially  effective  is 
the  first  verse,  which  occurs  again,  in  a  similar  form,  in  the 
"  Purgatorio  "  ;  this  beauty  of  the  opening  verses,  in  which 
the  mood  of  the  entire  poem  is,  as  it  were,  condensed,  is  a 
peculiarity  of  many  of  Dante's  poems,  which  was  noted 
by  Leonardo  Aretino  already.  Undoubtedly  others  of 
Dante's  canzoni  are  likewise  allegorical,  but  we  are  unable 
to  detect  them,  any  more  than  we  would  have  recognised 
the  "  Amor  che  nella  mente  mi  ragiona  "  as  such  a  poem,  if 
the  author  had  not  writtten  a  commentary  on  it.  All  the 
theories  that  have  been  set  up  are  uncertain.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  know  from  a  statement  of  the  poet  himself 
("Conv."  iii.  9)  that  the  ballad  "Voi  che  sapete  ragionar 
d*  amore"  is  to  be  taken  allegorically.  It  is  a  lament  on  the 
cruelty  of  the  beloved,  of  no  distinction  in  itself,  but  interest- 
ing in  so  far  as  it  expresses  its  philosophical  theme  in  the 
popular  form  of  the  dance-poem,  which  was  originally  in- 
tended  only  for  the  lightest  subjects.     This  alienation  of 

'  The  one  laments  much  with  words,  and  rests  herself  on  her  hand 
like  a  broken  rose  ;  the  bare  arm,  the  column  of  grief,  feels  the  ray  (of 
tears)  that  falls  from  her  countenance  ;  the  other  hand  holds  concealed 
the  tear-stained  face ;  ungirt  and  unshod  she  appears  entirely  lost  in 
herself. 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS  249 

the  genre  from  its  original  character  had  as  a  matter  of  fact 
been  accomplished  by  Guido  Cavalcanti  already. 

Dante's  allegorical  lyric  poetry  aims  at  extolling  philo- 
sophy ;  but  m  the  cases  where  it  is  a  question  of  a  moralisa- 
tion with  a  specific  practical  object,  and  where  the  reader  is 
intended  to  derive  benefit  from  the  piece,  the  canzone  lays 
aside  Its  beautiful  form  and  again  becomes  a  dry  didactic 
poem.     The  truth  that  was  to  have  a  direct  influence  on 
the  corrupted  morals  of  mankind  could  not  be  concealed 
beneath  an  image,  under  which  it  would  be  recognised  only 
with   difficulty.     -It   was   not  good   to   speak  under  any 
tigure ;  but  it  was  fitting  to  dispense  this  medicine  in  a  direct 
manner,  so  that  the  health  might  be  restored  in  the  most  direct 
and  rapid  manner,  which  being  ruined  caused  people  to  hurry 
to  so  hideous  a  death."     These  are  the  words  employed  by 
Dante  in  the  "Convivio"  (iv.  i)  with  reference  to  one  of 
these  canzoni,  the  one  concerning  nobility  (/^  M?di'Ud)—''Le 
dolci  rime  d'  amor  ch'  io  solia,"  which  he  is  interpreting  in 
that  place.     In  addition  to  this  we  have  two  other  poems  of 
the  kind,  the  canzone  ^'Poscia  ch'  amor  del  tuttb  m'  ha 
lasciato,"  concerning  Leggiadria,  that  is  to  say,  courteous 
manners,  and  "Doglia  mi  reca  nella  core  ardire,"  concern- 
ing avarice  and  generosity.     In   these  poems,  then,    the 
method   employed   is   strictly   scientific,    without    poetical 
ornament.      We  find  in  them  the  elaborate  confutation  of 
the  opposite  opinion,  the  syllogisms  in  regular  form  iUdite 
come  conchiudendo  vado  in  Doglia  mi  reca,  stanza  7),  the  ex- 
pressions of  the  language  of  the  schools.    In  order  to  define 
virtue,   Aristotle's  "  Ethics "  are  quoted  in  the  verses  (Le 
dolct  rtme).     Carducci  rightly  noted  that  this  dryness  and 
pedantry  recall  the  manner  of  Guittone  of  Arezzo,  from 
whom  Dante  distinguishes  himself  only  by  dint  of  the  greater 
energy  and  conciseness  of  his  language.     This  is  decidedly 
a  retrograde  step  compared  with  the  manner  of  instructing 
by  means  of  images  employed  by  Guinicelli,  from  whom 
Dante  had  borrowed  the  idea  of  the  canzone  concerning 
nobihty,  and  whom  he  mentions  with  admiration  in  the 
commentary.     But  here  again  Guido  Guinicelli  had  been 
in  advance  of  his  friend,  with  his  canzone  on  love.     And 
in  one  respect  Dante's  moralisations  are  even  inferior  to 
those  of  Guittone,  inasmuch  as  their  abstract  development 


KMillMlfitHiIlt 


250     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

prevents  their  moral  purport  being  readily  grasped  by  the 
reader.  Who  would  be  able  to  live  according  to  these 
canons  ?  The  scholastic  philosophy  is  subtle :  in  order  to 
express  ordinary  things,  it  adopts  fine  distinctions  and  far- 
fetched comparisons,  whereby  the  doctrines  lose  in  practical 
value  and  cannot  be  grasped  by  the  ordinary  intellect. 
However,  Dante  sets  great  store  on  these  canzoni,  in  which 
he  had  made  poetry  teach  virtue.  Perhaps  he  valued  them 
more  highly  even  than  all  the  others;  at  any  rate,  he 
regarded  them  as  the  most  characteristic  products  of  his 
muse,  and  quoted  the  canzone  '*  Doglia  mi  reca"  in  the 
book  "  De  Eloquentia  Vulgari "  (ii.  2),  in  the  passage  where 
he  called  himself  the  singer  of  virtue  (rectitudo).  And  this 
delight  in  subtly  demonstrating  abstract  truths  in  verse  is 
displayed  again  in  a  number  of  passages  in  the  "  Commedia," 
which  the  poet  assuredly  regarded  as  being  among  the  most 
perfect  in  the  work. 

The  philosophical  lyrical  poetry  of  Dante  was  produced 
at  considerable  intervals  of  time.  The  canzone  "  Voi  che 
intendendo"  is  probably  one  of  the  earliest,  perhaps  the 
very  earliest  of  this  period,  for  it  still  celebrates  the  beginnings 
of  his  new  love,  and  its  struggle  with  the  memory  of  Beatrice. 
It  was  composed  at  the  latest  in  1295,  as  the  young  King 
Charies  Martel  of  Hungary,  who  died  in  that  year,  shows 
that  he  is  acquainted  with  it,  in  the  passage  of  the 
**Paradiso"  (viii.  32),  where  Dante  introduces  him.  The 
second  canzone  of  the  "  Convivio,"  "Amor  che  nella  mente 
mi  ragiona,"  was  at  any  rate  composed  some  time  before 
1 300 ;  for  the  celebrated  composer  Casella  sings  it  in  the 
*'  Purgatorio."  On  the  other  hand,  the  poem  "  Tre  Donne  " 
refers  to  the  exile  of  the  poet.  The  three  canzoni  on 
rectitudo  appear  to  be  closely  connected  with  one  another 
and  to  have  been  composed  one  after  the  other ;  the  two 
dealing  with  Nobiltci  and  Leggiadria^  especially,  show  the 
greatest  similarity.  The  one  was,  as  we  have  seen,  written 
at  the  period  of  metaphysical  doubt ;  accordingly,  one  is  in- 
dined  to  place  it  somewhere  prior  to  1300,  which  is  the 
date,  even  though  it  be  only  the  fictitious  date,  of  the  vision 
and  the  great  conversion.  Like  the  commentary  of  the 
"Vita  Nuova,"  so,  too,  that  of  the  "Convivio"  was  worked 
out  subsequently  to  the  composition  of  the  poems,  in  this 


DANTE'S   LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS  251 

case,  indeed,  considerably  later.     The  author  speaks,  at  the 
begmnmg  of  the  book,  of  his   wanderings  far  and  wide, 
m   want   and   misery;   consequently   several'  years   of  his 
exile  must  have  elapsed.    The  noble  Gherardo  da  Cammino, 
captam  of  Treviso,  is  mentioned  (iv.  14)  as  being  dead,  and 
he  died  on  March  26,   1306.     On  the  other  hand,  King 
Charles  II.  of  Naples,  who  died  on  May  5,  1309,  is  alluded 
to  (iv.  6)  as  living.     And  so  the  "  Convivio  "  falls  somewhere 
between  the   years    1306  and   1309,  according  to  Witte's 
assumption,  in  the  winter  of  1308-9,  this  theory  being  sup- 
ported  by   the    gentler  and   more    conciliatory   nature  of 
his  feelings  towards  his  native  city,  and  by  the  general  tone 
of  resignation  apparent  in  the  book,  which  would  be  due  to 
the  fact  that  these  months  were  for  the  exiles  a  period  of 
utter  hopelessness. 

The  "Convivio"  was  to  explain  fourteen  canzoni,  but 
only  four  treatises,  that  is,  the  introduction  and  the  com- 
mentaries to  three  of  the  poems,  were  actually  written      In 
all  probability  the  expedition  of  Henry  VII.  interrupted  the 
work,  while  the  author's  occupation  with  the  "Commedia" 
prevented  him  from  taking  it  up  again.     People  have  asked 
themselves  which  might  be  the  canzoni  that  Dante  intended 
to  treat  later,  and  whether  we  still  possess  them  among  those 
of  his  that  have  come  down  to  us.    As  a  matter  of  fact,  two 
of  the  latter  may  be  assigned  their  place  in  the  unwritten  part 
of  the  book  with  a  considerable  degree  of  certainty.     The 
fourteenth  treatise  was  (according  to  i.  12,  line  87,'  and  iv.  27, 
line  loi)  to  treat  of  Giustizia,  and  there'the  reason  was  to  be 
given  why  the  form  of  the  allegory  was  invented  by  the  wise 
(u.  I,  line  34) ;   this  evidently  refers  to  the  canzone  "  Tre 
Donne,"  in  which  Justice  is  personified  by  the  three  women, 
and  which,  with  its  mysterious  images,  afforded  special  oppor- 
tunities for  discoursing  on  the  purpose  of  allegory.    The  last 
or  fifteenth  treatise  was  to  show  that  generosity  had  no  worth 
if  unwillingly  lavished  (i.  end  of  chap.  8),  and  that  the  virtues 
appear  to  us  at  times  less  admirable,  owing  to  vanity  and  pride 
(ill.  15,  line  142).     This  fits  the  canzone  "  Doglia  mi  reca," 
the  sixth  stanza  of  which,  especially,  corresponds  exactly  to 
the  former  of  these  specifications.  The  seventh  treatise  would 

^  The  lines  are  quoted  according  to  the  Oxford  Dante. 


f| 


g2^id^jjgM!|hdaUiftfeBa 


252      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

(according  to  iv.  26)  have  treated  of  Temperanza,  and  dis- 
cussed Dido  and  yEneas ;  we  do  not,  however,  possess  a 
poem  corresponding  to  these  particulars. 

When  Dante,  at  the  beginning  of  his  philosophical  work, 
is  expounding  its   purpose,    he   says  that,  in  the  canzoni 
which  he  had  composed  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow-men, 
many  had,  owing  to  their  obscurity,  admired  their  beauty 
rather  than  their  goodness,  that  is  to  say,  their  importance 
from   the  philosophical   and  ethical  point  of  view.     This 
point  of  view  he  now  wished  to  make  clear  to  all :  for  the 
man  who  possesses  knowledge  is  in  duty  bound  to  com- 
municate it  to  others.     It  is  true,  he  modestly  adds,  that  he 
is  not  one  of  the  "  privileged  few  who  sit  at  that  table,  where 
the  bread  of  the  angels  is  eaten,  .  .  .  but,  having  fled  from 
the  pasture-ground  of  the  great  mass,  I  cull,  at  the  feet  of 
those  who  sit  there,  of  that  which  falls  from  them."     And, 
continuing  the  same  image,  he  calls  his  work  the  Banquet, 
at  which  the  canzoni  are  dished  up  as  food,  and  the  com- 
mentary as  the  bread  which  makes  the  rest  palatable  and 
digestible.     The  object  was  the  same,  then,  as  we  find  with 
Brunetto  Latini   and   others,  namely,  a  popular  one— the 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  save  that  in  Dante's  case  the  subject 
treated  was  a  far  loftier  one.'     He  writes,  so  he  says,  not 
for  the  so-called  men  of  letters  :  for  they  profane  literature, 
and  change  her  from  a  noble  lady  into  a  common  harlot,  by 
making  profit  out  of  her.     He  writes  for  those  that  possess 
''goodness  of  mind,"  namely,  princes,  barons,  knights,  and 
many  other  nobles   of  the  kind,  not  alone  men,  but  also 
women  (i.  9).     This  explanation  is  of  importance,  and  he 
himself  is  fully  aware  of  its  significance,  when  he  exclaims  at 
the  end  of  the  first  treatise  :  "  This  will  be  the  barley-bread, 
with  which  thousands  will  satiate  themselves,  and  yet  my 
baskets  will  continue  to  overflow  with  it.     This  will  be  a 
new  light,  a  new  sun,  that  will  rise  where  the  old  one  sets, 
and  will  give  light  to  those  who  are  in  shadow  and  in  dark- 
ness, because  of  the  old  sun  that  gives  them  no  light." 

And  this  popular  intention  was  the  main  reason  for  a 
further  innovation.     He  wrote  his  scientific  treatises  in  the 

*  Popular,  as  opposed  to  the  schools,  but  nevertheless  aristocratic ; 
for  Dante  always  maintained  an  unfriendly  demeanour  towards  the 
great  mass  of  the  people. 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS  253 

knfih?:f  H  Tl'  '""/^^  f-^'^^  tongue,  (because  those  noble 
knights  and  ladies  for  whom  they  were  destined  would  not 
have  understood  the  Latin.  It  is  true  that  before  Dante^s 
D^seH  ?n  T?  '^^^'"""'1^  ^^"^"^y^  Je^^^ed  works  had  been  com- 
hTm  i  //^V'' ^''' '"'^^"*^^'  Ristoro's  "Composizione 
tLf^^^f'  ^^"/  ^"'  "^"^y  ^^  '^^'^  ^"^i"g^  had  been 
is  ^he  '  r  """^  '•^'„^"'/"\  ^^^^^^^'  f^^  ^^  i^^Po"  tant  a  work 
as  he  Convivio,"  which  treated  of  metaphysics,  practical 
philosophy,  and  natural  science,  according  \o  the^reS 
scholastic  method  of  the  great  schoolmen,  no  one  hadTen- 

appeared  to  Dante  as  an  innovation  he  shows  most  clearly 
by  feeling  himself  called  upon,   in  nine  chapters,   that  is, 
almost  the  entire  first  treatise,  to  justify  himself  for  offering 
so  noble  a  dish  with  barley-bread  (that  is,  with  an  Italian 
commentary)    and  not  with  bread  made  of  wheat  (Latin) 
And  this  IS  the  beginning  of  an  enthusiastic  and,  after  his 
manner,  passionate  defence  of  the  Italian  language      He 
owes  It  the  duties  of  love  and  gratitude,  as  being  MsVriend 
and  benefactor,  as  being  his  natural  tongue,   that  of  his 
parents,  the  one  in  which  he  has  composed  his  poetry  the 
one  that  opened  to  him  the  road  to  knowledge.     Hence  he 
will  make  manifest  its  excellence,  concealed  hitherto-   for 
now  that  It  goes  its   way  without  borrowed  ornaments  of 
rhyme  and  rhythm,  and  expresses  lofty  and  new  ideas  almost 
as  well  as  the  Latin,  it  will  display  in  its  entirety  the  strength 
and  beauty  it  possesses.    And  those  that  despise  the  mother 
tongue,  who  prefer  to  it  foreign  idioms,  and  especially  the 
Provengal,  he  calls  "the  abominable  wretches  of  Italy,  who 
regard  this  precious  volgare  as  vile,  whereas,  if  it  is  vile  at 

miu^^^ftesS^^^^^^^^  ^^  ''  ^^""'^  ^"  "^^  P---^^^ 
What  Dante  did  in  order  to  acquire  for  the  Italian  tongue 
a  position  superior  to  the  Latin,  with  which  it  was  struRoling 
for  literary  priority,  is  one  of  his  finest  and  most  brilliant 
achievements.  How  true  his  instinct  was  in  this  may  be 
seen  from  the  example  of  Petrarca,  who,  coming  later,  gave 
the  preference  again  to  the  Latin,  and  of  whom  nothing  has 
survived  save  what  was  written  in  Italian.  For  the  matter  of 
that,  Dante  himself  only  gradually  shook  off  the  prejudice  of 
his  age  m  favour  of  Latin,  nor  did  he  ever  free  himself  from 


254     HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

it  entirely.     The  "  Vita  Nuova  "  was  apparently,  according 
to  the  statement  in  cap.  31,  written  in  Italian  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  Guido  Cavalcanti,  to  whom  the  book  is  dedicated ; 
but  in  cap.  25  we  still  find  the  opinion  expressed,  that  only 
love-matters  should  be  treated  in  the  volgare^  that  being  done 
solely  in  order  that  women  might  understand  them.    In  the 
"  Convivio  "  more  nobility  is  granted  to  the  Latin,  because 
it  is  "permanent  and  incorruptible"  (while  the  volgare  is 
"  not  stable  and  corruptible  "),  because  it  is  more  beautiful, 
because  it  follows  art  (and  the  volgare  only  custom),  and  be- 
cause it  is  always  able  to  express  things  for  which  the  volgare 
does  not  suffice.     One  of  the  reasons  given  for  the  employ- 
ment of  allegory  in  the  first  canzone  is  that  no  poem  in  the 
volgare  appeared  worthy  to  extol  philosophy,  unless  some  veil 
were  used.     Nevertheless,  Dante  already  at  that  time  com- 
posed his  canzoni  on  virtue  in  Italian  ;  he  writes  on  the  high- 
est questions  of  philosophy  in  the  volgare^  which  he  defends 
and  extols  in  words  that  come  from  the  heart.     The  de- 
velopment of  his  ideas  was,  therefore,  notable.     The  little 
book  "  De  Eloquentia  Vulgari  "  adopts  practically  the  same 
standpoint ;   in  addition  to  love,  arms  and  virtue  are  de- 
signated as  proper  subjects  for  treatment  in  the  Italian  lan- 
guage.    The  volgare  is  here  called  more  noble  even  than 
Latin,  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  "  Convivio."     At  the 
same  time,  as  D'Ovidio  rightly  remarked,  so  vague  an  ex- 
pression as  nobile  must  not  be  interpreted  in  too  pedantic  a 
spirit :  according  to  the  author's  particular  object  or  point  of 
view,  his  opinion  might  lean  one  way  or  the  other.     The 
Latin  poets,  called  magni  et  regulares,  are,  in  this  treatise, 
still  invariably  distinguished  from  those  that  write  in  the 
volgare^  because  the  former  proceed  according  to  art,  the 
latter  according  to  chance.    That  Dante  composed  this  very 
book  on  the  Italian  language  in  Latin  may  be  due  to  the  fact 
that  in  it  he  addressed  those  that  despised  the  volgare,  who 
only  read  Latin  works,  and  to  whom  he  had,  therefore,  to 
speak  in  this  language,  so  as  to  be  able  to :  refute  their 
opinions.     This  book,  too,  belongs  to  the  period  of  exile,  to 
which  it  contains   an   allusion  (i.  6).      The  "  Convivio " 
mentions  it  only  as  a  projected  work  (i.  5) :    "  This  will  be 
treated  more  fully  in  another  place,  in  a  book  which,  with 
God's  help,  I  mean  to  write  concerning  the  vulgar  speech." 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS  25$ 

The  treatise,  however,  contains  an  historical  allusion  (i.  12) 
which  assigns  it  a  date  prior  to  the  year  1305,  namely,  the 
mention  of  John  of  Montferrat  (who  died  in  January,  1305) 
as  a  living  man.  And  so  the  words  in  the  "  Convivio  "  prob- 
ably mean  that  the  book,  as  such,  did  not  exist,  that  is  to 
say,  it  was  not  yet  completed  and  published,  which  does  not 
exclude  the  possibility  of  its  having  being  partially  finished. 
That  is  the  explanation  of  D'Ovidio  and  FraticellL 

But  this  work  of  Dante's  also  remained  unfinished,  the 
reason  being  unknown.     It  was  intended  to  comprise  at  least 
four  books,  as  the  fourth   is   several  times  referred  to  in 
advance  (ii.  4,  8),  but  it  breaks  off  in  the  middle  of  the 
fourteenth  chapter  of  the  second  book.     The  original  title  is 
"  De  Eloquentia  Vulgari,;*  this  being  Dante's  own  designa- 
tion in  the  text  of  the  treatise  itself  (at  the  beginning  and 
end  of  i.   i)  and  in  the  "Convivio."     Later  it  was  called 
"  De  Vulgari  Eloquio,"  by  Giovanni  Villani,  for  example. 
But  this  did  not  show  any  misunderstanding  of  the  author's 
plan ;  for  Dante  really  intended  to  treat  of  the  vulgar  tongue, 
and  not  merely  of  the  poetic  style,  as  has  often  been  assumed. 
Only  the  fact  of  the  non-completion  of  the  work  might  pro- 
duce the  impression  that  it  was  meant  to  be  nothing  more 
than  a  Poetica  ;  but  the  author  says  expressly  at  the  begin- 
ning that  the  eloquentia  vulgaris  was  necessary  for  all,  and  that 
not  only  men,  but  women  and  children  also  strove  to  attain 
it,  and  at  the  end  of  the  first  book  he  says  that  he  proposes 
treating  the  other  vulgaria  after  the  vu/garet7/usfre,  descend- 
ing down  to  the  speech  that  is  proper  to  one  family  only. 
Accordingly,  the  precepts  concerning  poetic  style  and  form 
constituted  only  a  subdivision  of  the  entire  work,  and  Dante's 
eloquentia  stands  for  language,  or  at  the  outside  for  eloquence 
in  general.* 

Following  the  custom  of  his  time,  Dante  begins  with  the 
origin  of  language  itself,  and  answers  the  questions  why  it  was 
given  to  man  and  to  man  alone,  and  not  to  the  angels  and 
animals ;  he  also  discusses  which  was  the  language  of  Adam, 
and  decides  in  favour  of  Hebrew.     Then  he  comes  to  speak 

'  In  the  same  way  Pietro  Allighieri,  in  the  "  Commentarium,"  edited 
by  Nannucci,  p.  84,  employs  eloquentia  in  the  sense  of  "  speech " : 
**  Rhadamanthus  vero  iudicat  de  eloquentia^  utram  sit  vera,  ficta  vel 
otiosa ;  unde  *  Rhadamanthus,'  id  est  * iudicans  verba.' " 


liiiiiiiiiiMiiMiiiiiwaii 


256      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

of  the  confusion  of  Babel  and  of  the  origin  of  the  various 
languages  and  families  of  languages,  of  which  he  distinguishes 
three  in  Europe.     One  of  them  is  that  of  the  Romance 
idioms,  the  common  basis  and  original  unity  of  which  he 
therefore  recognises,  though  he  does  not  explain  it  correctly. 
According  to  Dante  there  are  three  Romance  languages,  too, 
which  he  distinguishes  in  the  manner  that  has  become  so 
usual,  according  to  their  affirmative  particle,  into  the  lan- 
guages of  ocj  oil,  and  st.     Are  we  to  assume  that  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  were  really  unknown  to  him,  or  was  it  again 
his  predilection  for  the  symbolical  number  three  asserting 
itself  ?     He  puts  the  Hispani  down  as  representatives  of  the 
lingua  d^oCy  whereas,  of  course,  only  their  two  north-eastern 
provinces  belong  to  this  domain.     The  separate  languages 
are  again  subdivided ;  people  speak  differently  in  the  various 
districts,  in  the  various  towns,  at  times  even  in  the  various 
quarters  of  the  same  town.     The  cause  of  this  is,  as  Dante 
thought,  the  change  to  which  all  human  thmgs  are  subjected, 
and  which  is,  in  the  case  of  language,  effected  variously  in 
the  various  localities.     And  so  men  no  longer  understand 
one  another,  and  no  longer  understand  what  their  ancestors 
spoke,  and  the  need  arises  for  a  universal  language,  un- 
influenced by  remoteness  of  time  or  place.     As  such  a 
language  the  Grammatica,   that  is,    Latin,   was   invented, 
which  is  unchangeable  because  it  "was  regulated  by  the 
agreement  of  many  nations  "  (i.  9).     And  so,  according  to 
Dante's  opinion,  the  Romance  languages  do  not  derive  from 
the  Latin ;  on  the  contrary,  the  Latin  is  a  later  invention, 
an  artificial  product,  as  opposed  to  those  products  of  nature. 
The  vulgar  tongue  is  very  old ;  it  is  the  natural  speech  of 
man,    which   he   learns   without  rules   from  those  around 
him,  when  he  first  begins  to  form  words;    grammar,  the 
Latin  language,  is  acquired  by  dint  of  study,  and  only  by  a  few. 
Further  on,  Dante  asks  himself  which  of  the  three  Ro- 
mance languages  should  be  awarded  the  precedence.     He 
does  not  come  to  a  decision,  as  each  of  them  can  boast  of  its 
special  Hterary  productions ;  two  points,  however,  appear  to 
decide  him  in  favour  of  the  Italian,  namely,  its  closer  re- 
semblance to  the  language  of  grammar  (Latin)  common  to 
them  all,  and  its  employment  as  the  organ  of  the  most 
perfect  lyrical  poetry,  that  of  the  dolce  stil  nuovo.     But  Italy 


I 


,    V 

m 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND    MINOR  WORKS  257 

possesses  several  different  vu/gan'a,  many  dialects,  of  which 
the  author  distinguishes  fourteen  principal  ones,  divided  into 
two  great  classes,  east  and  west  of  the  chain  of  the  Apennines 
Now,  which  of  these  is  the  noble  Italian  vu/gare,  which  he 
compared  with  the  other  Romance  languages,  to  which  he 
even  awarded  a  certain  precedence?    Dante  goes  through 
the  dialects  one  by  one,  quotes  from  each  some  words  by 
way  of  specimen,  and  comparing  them  with  the  literary  type 
that  he  has  m   mmd,  he  rejects  them   all,   with   his  im- 
patient and  passionate  temperament,  and  inveighs  against 
nearly  all  of  them  with  bitter  words,  even  against  the  Tuscan  ; 
the  Tuscans,  indeed,  come  in  for  special  abuse,  since  they 
maintain  that  they  possess  the  noble  language,  whereas  thev 
write  and  speak  more  faultily  than  the  rest.     But,  neverthe- 
less  in  the  course  of  his  researches,  he  found  traces  of  that 
higher  vu/^are  in  the  most  various  districts,  in  Sicily,  Apulia 
Tuscany  Bologna,  in  isolated  instances  also  in  Romagna' 
Lombardy    and  Venetia,  namely,  in  the  court  poets  who 
rejected  the  particular  idiom  of  their  province,  and  every- 
where employed  the  same  expressions.     This  is   Dante's 
famous  doctrine  of  a  national  language,  that  was   to  be 
common  to  every  district  of  the  country,  not  identical  with 
any  one  of  the  dialects,  and  superior  to  them  all.     Nowadays 
we  also  say  that  no  dialects  correspond  exactly  to  the  literary 
anguage  ;  but  at  the  same  time,  we  recognise  that  the  rela- 
tion  in  which  the  latter  stands  to  the  single  dialects  is  very 
yanous    that  this  literary   language    is   based   on   one   of 
these  dialects,  from  which  it  arose  by  merely  eliminating 
certam  elements,  whereas  it  is  distinguished  from  the  others 
by  Its  phonetics  and  forms.     As  D'Ovidio  noted,  Dante  was 
not  yet  able  to  draw  this  distinction,  the  distinction  between 
language  and  style ;  he  denominated  both  of  them  as  /in^ua 
and  did  not  recognise  that  the  literary  language  he  employed 

Tf  'l^Tu^!''''^  t^  '^^'"^"'  ^^  ^P^^^  «^  the  divergencies 
detected  by  him.     Nor  could  he  realise  this  fact,  seeing  that 

according  to  his  convictions,  the  literary  language,  as  the 

higher  and  the  more  excellent,  must  also  be  the  earliest  in 

point  of  time,  and  the  dialects  a  corruption  of  this  pure  type 

whose  existence  he  demonstrates  d  prion  by  means  of  a 

scholastic  deduction.     In  all  classes  of  things,  he  says  there 

is  a  simple  fundamental  standard  by  which  they  are  measured 

I.  c  ' 


I' 


f 


258      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE  i 

as,  for  numbers— one,  for  colours— white,  for  human  actions 

virtue,  and  so  on.     In  the  same  way,  the  fundamental 

standard  for  the  vulgaria  is  this  language  common  to  all  of 
them.  Just  as  there  is  a  vulgare  of  Cremona,  so  there  is  one 
of  the  whole  of  Lombardy,  further,  one  of  the  entire  left 
portion  of  Italy,  and,  finally,  one  of  the  whole  of  Italy ;  and, 
just  as  the  first  is  the  Cremonese,  the  second  the  Lombard, 
and  the  third  a  Semilatium  (1.  Semilatinum  ?),  so  we  call  the 
fourth  the  Latinum  vulgare,  the  Italian.  For  us  this  uni- 
versal fundamental  type  is  merely  an  abstraction,  which  has 
no  existence  save  in  the  particular  case.  But  for  Dante  the 
universals  possess  reality,  and  accordingly  there  is  no  need 
for  him  to  ask  how  this  type  is  obtained,  and  whence  the 
universal  language  derives,  in  which  the  best  poets  of  every 
province  wrote. 

After  obtaining  his  universal  language  in  this  manner, 
Dante  extols  it  with  enthusiastic  epithets.  It  is  the  vulgare 
illustre,  cardinale,  aulicum,  curiale,  that  is  to  say,  the  noble 
and  perfect  language  of  poetry,  the  source  of  fame  and 
honour,  and  the  court  language,  that  of  cultured  society.  It 
is  true  that  there  is  no  court  in  Italy  at  which  it  is  employed, 
but  there  are  the  members  of  an  ideal  court,  that  is  to  say, 
the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  nation,  and  especially  the 
leading  poets,  who  thus  feel  themselves  united  by  the  bond 
of  an  intellectual  companionship  in  the  same  way  as  else- 
where courts  are  bound  together  through  the  efforts  of  the 
prince.  But  this  vulgare  illustre  must  not  be  employed  in- 
discriminately for  every  kind  of  literary  production.  Dante 
distinguishes  three  species  of  style— the  tragic,  comic,  and 
elegiac — which  terms  must  be  taken  not  in  the  classical,  but 
in  the  widely  different  medieval  sense,  as  a  distinction  based 
on  the  greater  or  lesser  degree  of  sublimity  and  solemnity 
contained  in  the  poem.  The  vulgare  illustre  is  adapted  only 
to  tragic  subjects  and  to  the  highest  styles,  to  which  belongs 
the  canzone,  that  loftiest  and  most  solemn  form  of  poetry, 
while  the  ballad  and  sonnet  stand  lower  and  adopt  the 
vulgare  mediocre.  And  so  Dante's  vulgare  illustre,  from  a 
literary  point  of  view,  consists  of  nothing  but  the  canzone, 
and  we  can  understand  how  it  is  that,  in  certain  sonnets  of 
the  correspondence  type,  and  especially  in  the  "  Commedia," 
he  could  be  more  free  in  the  use  of  idiomatic  forms,  nay, 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS  259 

even  employ  words  which  he  had  specially  blamed  in  the 
treatise,  but  only  with  reference  to  the  noblest  type  of  the 
vulgare  illustre. 

In  the  remaining  chapters  of  the  second  book  (ii.  c,  soo ) 
the  author  deals  with  the  stylistic  and  metrical  peculiarities 
of  the  canzone.  The  severe  and,  in  reality,  somewhat  ex- 
clusive nature  of  his  selection,  in  the  matter  of  word  con- 
struction, reveals  to  us  the  inflexible  taste  of  an  aristocratic 
torm  of  art.  But  the  instructions  are  here  inadequate,  and 
those  who  had  not  mastered  the  subject  before,  could  have 
learnt  but  little  from  them.  More  interesting,  and  very  im- 
portant  for  our  knowledge  of  the  old  metrical  laws,  are  the 
data  concerning  the  structure  of  the  poem,  the  verse,  the 
stanza  and  its  divisions,  and  the  terminology  of  the  time 
The  unwritten  portion  of  the  book  was  to  treat  the  sonnet 
and  the  ballad. 

Dante's  work  contains  a  number  of  errors.     Although  his 
fundamental  idea  rises  above  the  general  prejudice,  yet  he 
cannot  free  himself  from  it  in  all  its  details,  and  although  he 
sets  himself  the  solution  of  an  important  problem,  yet  he 
does  not  really  succeed  in  solving  it ;  for  his  method  could 
not  fail  to  be  shackled  by  the  errors  that  belonged  to  the 
teaching  of  his  time.     But  it  is  just  this  fundamental  idea 
that  reveals  to  us  the  boldness  of  his  mind.     He  was  the 
first  among  his  countrymen  to  put  a  conscious  theory  in  the 
place  of  the  irregular  use  of  the  volgare ;  his  little  book  con- 
tains the  first  scientific  treatment  of  the  Italian  language 
and  It  IS  at  the  same  time  the  first  example  of  a  regular  Ars 
poettca  for  any  vulgar  tongue,  after  the  manner  of  those  that 
had  previously  been  compiled  for  Latin  only.     And  thus 
owing  to  Dante's  original  intellect,  Italian  poetry,  that  began 
latest  among  the  Romance  languages,  first  and  almost  at  its 
commencement  came  to  be  combined  with  reflection  and 
with  the  theory  of  art. 

For  some  time  after  Beatrice's  death  the  restless  zeal 
for  learning  and  research  obscured  in  Dante's  mind  that 
which  had  hitherto  been  his  only  ideal,  the  dominating 
thought  of  his  soul.  And  there  were  other  influences  that 
helped  to  deaden  the  memory  of  his  departed  mistress 
Towards  the  end  of  the  "Vita  Nuova,"  Dante  narrates  how 
once,  when   deeply  immersed  in   mournful  thoughts,   he 


1 
.  fl 


i 


260     HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

noticed  a  beautiful  lady  at  a  window,  who  regarded  him  with 
looks  full  of  compassion,  and  how,  seeing  her  again  and 
again,  he  gradually  took  such  pleasure  in  the  sight  of  her,  that 
he  was  in  danger  of  forgetting  his  pain  at  the  loss  of  his  loved 
one,  and  how  this  brought  about  a  violent  struggle  in  his 
soul,  which,  however,  after  a  vision,  ended  with  the  victory 
of  Beatrice.  Dante  himself  subsequently  identified  this  con- 
soling lady,  this  donna  pietosa^  or  donna  gentile^  as  he  usually 
calls  her,  with  Madonna  la  Fiiosojia,  the  mistress  of  the 
allegorical  canzoni  and  of  the  "  Convivio."  There  can  be 
no  doubt  as  to  her  having  originally  existed  in  the  flesh. 
But  we  must  not  blame  the  poet  for  this  little  deception  he 
permitted  himself;  seeing  that  his  feelings  for  the  donna 
gentile,  which,  in  his  exalted  mood,  appeared  to  him  at  first  so 
culpable,  were  in  reality  very  innocent  and  transitory,  and 
that  he  could  not  fail  to  recognise  them  as  such  later  on. 

Essentially  different  is  another  love  of  Dante's,  which  has 
found  expression  in  several  of  his  poems.  These  are  four 
canzoni,  the  connection  between  which  has  been  recognised 
from  the  fact  that  they  all  play  with  the  word  Pietra,  or  at 
any  rate  allude  to  it  in  a  significant  manner.  The  character 
the  four  poems  have  in  common,  and  which  distinguishes 
them  from  the  allegorical  pieces  and  those  on  the  death  of 
Beatrice,  is  their  rough  and  realistic  tone.  The  canzone, 
"Cosi  nel  mio  parlar  voglio  esser  aspro,"  is  full  of  glowing 
sensuality,  while  the  language  is  rough,  unconventional,  and 
energetic,  and  therefore  imbued  with  original  strength  and 
poetry.  Rejected  by  the  woman  he  loves,  the  poet  feigns 
the  possibility  of  her  being,  at  some  future  time,  filled  with 
the  same  anguish  as  himself,  and  he  revels  in  this  thought, 
imagining  how  he  would  then  seize  her  fair  tresses,  that  are 
now  his  scourge,  and  look  straight  into  her  eyes,  and  take 
revenge,  slaking  his  amorous  thirst.  The  description  of  his 
agony,  the  image  of  the  terrible  Amore,  who  has  thrown  him 
to  the  ground  and  lets  his  blows  rain  on  him,  are  moving  in 
their  passionate  strength.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  pro- 
ductions of  Dante's  entire  muse  is  the  canzone,  "  lo  son 
venuto  al  punto  della  rota."  In  powerful,  plastic  images  and 
expressions  is  depicted  winter-time,  its  numbing  and  de- 
structive influence  on  the  outer  world,  and  then,  by  way  of 
contrast,  the  poet's  soul  all  aflame  with  love.     The  theme 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR   WORKS  261 

was  a  favourite  one  with  the  troubadours,  but  never  had  this 
contrast  between  nature  and  inner  feeling  been  developed 
with  such  consummate  art.  Each  stanza  opens  with  a 
description  of  the  landscape,  and  closes  with  the  melancholy 
thoughts  of  the  poet's  unhappy  passion.  Specially  effective 
IS  the  fifth  stanza : 

Versan  le  vene  le  fumifere  aque 

Per  li  vapor,  che  la  terra  ha  nel  ventre, 

Che  d'  abisso  gli  tira  suso  in  alto  ; 

Onde  r  cammino  al  bel  giorno  mi  piacque, 

Che  ora  e  fatto  rivo,  e  sara,  mentre 

Che  durera  del  verno  il  grande  assalto. 

La  terra  fa  un  suol  che  par  di  smalto, 

E  I'acqua  morta  si  converte  in  vetro 

Per  la  freddura,  che  di  fuor  la  serra. 

Ed  io  della  mia  guerra 

Non  son  pero  tomato  un  passo  arretro, 

Ne  vo'  tornar ;  che  se  '1  martiro  e  dolce. 

La  morte  de'  passare  ogni  altro  dolce.  ^ 

^  The  poem,  "  Al  poco  giorno  ed  al  gran  cerchio  d'ombra," 
IS  closely  connected  with  the  preceding  one,  the  thoughts  of 
which  it  recapitulates  in  the  first  stanza.  Towards  the  close 
the  poet  expresses  the  wish,  that  has  been  so  often  mis- 
understood by  the  commentators,  to  meet  his  beloved  in  a 
solitary  place,  on  a  meadow  clad  with  verdure,  surrounded 
by  high  hills,  and  she  herself  as  full  of  love  as  ever  a  woman 
was ;  but  before  that  takes  place,  the  rivers  will  rise  to  the 
top  of  the  hills.  This  poem  is  a  sestina,  that  is  to  say,  it  is 
written  in  the  artificial  form  invented  by  Arnaut  Daniel, 
which  was  rarely  imitated  in  Provencal,  and  first  introduced 
into  Italian  poetry  by  Dante.  It  was  not  a  fortunate  acqui- 
sition, as  was  proved  more  fully  still  by  subsequent  efforts. 
The  return  of  the  six  identical  closing  words  throughout  six 
stanzas  and  a  refrain  of  three  verses,  and  each  time  in  a 

The  veins  pour  forth  smoky  waters,  by  reason  of  the  vapours  that 
the  earth  has  in  its  belly,  that  draws  them  forth  from  the  depth  of  the 
abyss ;  there  where  the  way  pleased  me,  in  the  lovely  daylight,  that 
has  now  become  a  river,  and  will  be  one  as  long  as  the  violent  assault 
of  wmter  shall  last.  The  ground  forms  a  soil  that  appears  to  be  of 
stone,  and  the  dead  water  turns  to  glass,  through  the  cold  that  locks  it 
in  from  without.  And  I  from  my  war  have  not  turned  one  step  back- 
wards,  and  do  not  wish  to  turn  j  for  if  the  torture  is  sweet,  death  must 
surpass  all  other  sweetness. 


^  % 


262      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

different  order  which  was  strictly  prescribed  (changing  in 
pairs,  from  verse  6  to  i,  5  to  2,  4  to  3 : 

l.abcdef.     \\.  f  a  e  b  d  c.     III.  cfd  a  b  e,  etc.) 

hampers  the  train  of  thought  in  an  unendurable  fashion, 
without  supplying  the  ear  with  an  adequate  recompense. 
And  it  is  strange  to  remark  how  Dante  assigns  a  more  pro- 
minent part  to  artificiality  of  form  and  to  playing  with  words 
just  in  the  cases  where  his  poetry  is  realistic  in  character. 
In  the  canzone  "  lo  son  venuto,"  we  find  this  only  in  a  small 
degree,  nor  does  it  produce  an  unpleasant  effect  in  this 
poem;  the  repetition  of  the  rhyme-word  in  the  two  final 
verses  of  each  stanza  {rima  equivocd)  makes  us  feel  as  it  were 
the  repeated  pulsation  of  the  same  thought  that  torments 
the  poet.  However,  in  the  canzone,  "  Amor  tu  vedi  che 
questa  donna,"  the  subject-matter  is  entirely  lost  in  the 
artificiality  of  the  form.  What  Dante  invented  here  was 
something  entirely  new,  as  he  himself  proudly  points  out  in 
the  refrain,  and  the  allusion  to  this  discovery  in  the  "  De 
Vulg.  EL,"  ii.  13,  where  he  calls  it  novum  aliquod  atque  in- 
tentatum  artis,  shows  how  highly  he  valued  it.  Here  the 
same  final  words  are  not  merely  repeated  in  the  body  of  the 
stanza  (the  usual  rime  equivoche),  but  they  return  in  each 
stanza  in  such  a  way  that  the  last  final  word  of  the  one 
stanza  occupies  in  the  following  stanza  the  position  of  the 
first,  and  each  of  the  others  the  position  of  that  word  which 
followed  it  in  the  first  stanza : 

I.  abaacaaddaee, 
II.  eaeebeeccedd, 
III.  deddaddbbdcc. 

And  so  on  for  five  stanzas,  so  that  finally  b  stands  at  the 
beginning  and  a  at  the  end,  followed  by  a  refrain  :  aeddcb. 
This  is  called  a  double  sestina,  though  not  quite  correctly,  if 
only  for  the  reason  that  there  are  no  more  than  five  closing 
words,  and  that  the  order  observed  is  quite  different  to  that 
of  the  sestina ;  however,  this  complicated  arrangement  is 
probably  a  development  of  the  latter  form.  We  may  con- 
demn this  trifling  in  itself,  but  cannot  but  admire  Dante's 
consummate  mastery  of  expression,  which  enables  him  to 
overcome  these  difficulties,  and  to  express  his  thoughts  with 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


263 


sufficient  clearness,  whereas  the  far  simpler  rime  equivoche  of 
his  predecessors  were  for  the  most  part  quite  unintelligible. 

Who  was  this  Pietra^  whose  real  or  imaginary  name  is 
juggled  with  in  these  four  poems  ?  An  assertion  made  in  the 
sixteenth  century  by  Anton  Maria  Amadi  to  the  effect  that 
she  was  identical  with  one  Pietra  degli  Scrovegni  of  Padua, 
has  been  rejected  by  Carducci  and  proved  by  Vitt.  Imbriani 
to  be  a  frivolous  invention.  The  more  modern  theories  con- 
cerning this  personality  are  no  more  convincing,  and  we  must 
make  up  our  minds  to  say  of  this,  as  of  so  many  other  in- 
cidents in  Dante's  life,  that  we  know  nothing  about  it. 
Carducci  and  Imbriani  are  undoubtedly  correct  in  placing 
the  poems  before  the  period  of  exile,  that  is  to  say,  in  the 
nineties  ;  such  passionate  words  can  come  only  from  a  young 
man.  Equally  certain  is  it  that  this  was  a  sensual  love :  if 
we  read  the  canzone,  "  Cosi  nel  mio  parlar,"  especially,  it  is 
impossible  to  think  of  philosophy,  still  less  of  Beatrice  or  of 
some  other  spiritual  passion. 

Sensuality  asserted  itself  against  the  mystic  exaltation  and 
the  religious  cult  of  the  feminine  ideal.  Just  in  the  poet, 
with  the  warmth  of  his  imagination  and  temperament,  the 
earthly  qualities,  too,  are  wont  to  play  an  important  part. 
And  this  is  a  general  trait  with  the  poets  of  the  dolce  stil 
nuovo.  They  had  spiritualised  their  feelings,  and  connected 
them  with  all  that  is  highest;  but  this  pure  worship  of 
woman  could  not  fail  to  be  accompanied  by  grosser  passions. 
Guido  Guinicelli,  the  originator  of  this  love  cult,  is  met  by 
Dante  in  the  seventh  circle  of  Purgatory,  where  atonement  is 
made  for  the  lust  of  the  flesh  (Jiixuria).  Dante  himself 
participates  in  the  penitential  torments  of  the  souls  in  this 
circle  alone,  among  all  those  of  the  mountain ;  before  he  can 
attain  to  the  Earthly  Paradise,  he  must  pass  through  the 
purifying  fire,  and  feels  its  heat  so  keenly,  that  he  had  fain 
thrown  himself  into  molten  glass,  in  order  to  cool  himself. 
In  the  "  Inferno,"  he  feels,  as  has  been  noted,  the  deepest 
compassion  for  those  who  have  been  condemned  owing  to 
sins  of  love,  such  as  Francesca  and  Paolo.  That  Guido 
Cavalcanti  was  not  free  from  earthly  passions  is  proved  by 
several  of  his  songs.  This  was  the  folk  amore,  which  was 
set  against  virtuous  love  already  by  the  ProvenQal  and  Old 
French  poets.  It  might  temporarily  disturb  the  pure,  spiritual 


y  <<i 


t 


I 


I 


264     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN  LITERATURE 

feeling,  but  could  not  destroy  it.  This  was  a  religion.  Man 
could  not  cease  to  be  man ;  he  sinned  and  then  returned, 
full  of  penance,  to  the  worship  of  his  ideal.  Such  a  period 
of  transgression  occurred  also  in  Dante's  life.  It  was  the 
time,  at  which  Guido  Cavalcanti  addressed  to  him  the 
sonnet : 

lo  vengo  il  giorno  a  te  infinite  volte 
E  trovoti  pensar  troppo  vilmente. 

Guido  complains  that  he  can  no  longer  visit  him  and  praise 
his  poems  as  he  used  to  do,  without  fearing  for  his  own 
reputation,  on  account  of  the  low  mode  of  life  in  which  he 
was  degrading  his  noble  mind,  and  of  his  intercourse  with 
low  people  {gente  noiosa),  whom  he  had  formerly  avoided. 

This  intercourse,  considered  unworthy  by  Guido,  is 
alluded  to  also  in  a  passage  of  the  "Commedia"  and  in 
some  correspondence  of  Dante's  in  the  form  of  sonnets, 
which,  at  the  same  time,  serve  to  fix  more  closely  the  date 
of  these  youthful  acts  of  wantonness.  When  Dante,  in  the 
sixth  circle  of  Purgatory,  meets  the  soul  of  his  friend,  Forese 
Donati,  who  is  doing  penance  for  the  sin  of  gluttony,  he 
reminds  him  of  their  former  intercourse  with  the  words 
("Purg.,"  xxiii.  115) : 

If  thou  bring  back  to  mind 
What  thou  with  me  hast  been  and  I  with  thee, 
The  present  memory  will  be  grievous  still. 
Out  of  that  life  he  turned  me  back  who  goes 
In  front  of  me  (i.e.  Virgil) .  .  . 

Forese  was  the  brother  of  the  Corso  Donati,  who  subse- 
quently became  the  fiercest  enemy  of  Dante  and  of  his 
party;  he  died  July  28th,  1296.  The  words  of  Dante  have 
always  been  regarded  as  a  reminder  of  trangressions  com- 
mitted together,  of  a  profligate  life,  and  this  is  undoubtedly 
the  correct  interpretation.  However,  we  must  not  be  led 
astray  by  the  context  of  the  passage,  and  accuse  Dante  of 
having  shared  Forese's  propensity  towards  the  pleasures  of 
the  table,  as  was  done,  among  others,  by  Witte.  Surely  we 
cannot  know  whether  the  words  refer  directly  to  the  crime 
punished  in  the  circle  in  which  the  speaker  happens  to  be  at 
the  time ;  the  seventh  circle,  that  of  luxuria^  is  higher  than 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


265 


I] 


Forese,  and  he  may  still  have  had  to  do  long  penance  there, 
too,  and  this  may  have  been  the  crime  that  he  had  com- 
mitted in  common  with  his  friend.  Besides,  the  second 
piece  of  evidence  we  possess  of  the  relations  between  Dante 
and  Forese  is  diametrically  opposed  to  Witte's  theory. 

This  is  a  collection  of  correspondence  in  the  form  of  five 
sonnets,  two  from  Forese  to  Dante,  and  three  from  Dante 
to  him.     Four  of  these  have  been  known  for  a  long  time, 
but  they  were  not  considered  genuine  because  they  differ  in 
character  from  Dante's  other  poems.     Now  their  genuine- 
ness has  been  proved,  partly  because  they  are  mentioned  in 
the  Dante  commentary  of  the  so-called  "  Anonimo  Fioren- 
tino,"  partly  because  their  subject-matter  fits  in  with  authen- 
ticated facts.     If  their  tone  does  differ  so  completely  from 
that  to  which  we  are  accustomed  in  Dante's  other  lyrical 
pieces,  we  need  not  be  surprised.     With  other  poets  of  the 
elevated  style,  we  also  found  such  isolated  efforts  in  the 
rough  and  realistic  manner,  which  was,  at  that  time,  repre- 
sented chiefly  by  Rusticco  di  Filippo  and  Cecco  Angiolieri, 
and  which  dealt  in  a  jocose  and  scoffing  spirit  with  the 
affairs  of  everyday  life.     Guido  Guinicelli  wrote  the  sonnet 
on  Lucia  with  the  many-coloured  cape  and  the  one  against 
a  malicious  old  witch,  and  Guido  Cavalcanti,  that  on  the 
over-dressed  hump-backed  woman.    In  the  same  way  Dante, 
after  composing  the  poems  on  Beatrice,  and  perhaps  also 
the   first   philosophical   canzone,  did   not   disdain,   in   the 
sonnets,  "Chi  udisse  tossir  la  mal  fatata,"  "Ben  ti  faranno 
il  nodo  Salamone,"  and  "  Bicci  Novel,  figliuol  di  non  son 
cui,"  to  reproach  Forese  Donati,  who  is  here  called  by  a 
nickname  Bicci,  with  neglecting  his  wife,  with  squandering 
his  money  on  dainty  meals,  and  almost  with  thieving — all 
this  in  words  taken  from  everyday  life,  in  return  for  which 
he  had  to  endure  Forese's  taunts  at  the  patience  with  which 
he  bore  the  insults  heaped  on  his  family.    Dante  and  Forese 
were  intimate  friends,  as  the  passage  in  the  "  Purgatorio  " 
shows,  and  we  must,  therefore,  not  take  these  reproaches 
too  literally;    they  are,  as  was  also  held  by  Del  Lungo, 
nothing  but  railing  jests,  jokes  of  a  somewhat  coarse  kind, 
such  as  were  usual  in  those  days,  and  interesting  chiefly 
from  the  fact  that  they  reveal  the  great  man  for  once  without 
his  halo,  in  his  purely  human  aspect  and  in  the  intercourse  of 


266      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

the  ordinary  life  of  his  town.  This  also  accounts  for  the 
fact  that  these  verses  are  often  very  obscure  through  pro- 
verbial phrases,  and  allusions  to  customs  and  events  that 
are  unknown  to  us;  no  one  has  as  yet  succeeded  in  de- 
ciphering all  the  difficulties. 

Dante  reproaches  his  friend  with  gluttony.  He  could  not 
do  that,  even  in  jest,  if  he  had  not  been  superior  to  him  in 
this  respect,  for  Forese  would  have  accused  him  in  his  turn. 
Dante  was,  therefore,  Forese's  companion,  not  in  this,  but 
in  some  other  aspect  of  riotous  living.  Now,  Dante  accuses 
him  also  of  neglecting  his  wife,  and  riotous  living  always 
keeps  a  man  away  from  home ;  as  Forese  did  not  retaliate 
with  a  similar  accusation,  we  must  conclude  that  Dante  was 
not  married  at  the  time. 

Dante's  wife  was  Gemma  di  Manetto  Donati,  of  another 
branch  of  the  same  family  to  which  Forese  and  Corso  be- 
longed.    It  is  not  certain  when  the  marriage  with  her  took 
place,  but,  in  view  of  the  observations  we  have  just  made, 
we  cannot  assign  it  an  earlier  date  than  the  middle  of  the 
nineties;  for  the  period  of  the  sonnets  to  Forese  cannot 
have  been  immediately  subsequent  to  the  death  of  Beatrice. 
It  is   true  that    this   was    scarcely   reconcilable  with   the 
numerous  progeny  that  used  to  be  attributed  to  Dante ; 
according  to  the  early  biographers  he  is  supposed  to  have 
had  seven  children.     But  Todeschini  and  Passerini  found 
that  some  of  these  were  merely  invented,  and,  after  striking 
these  off  the  list,   none  remain  but  the   two  sons,  Pietro 
and  Jacopo,  and  one  daughter,  Antonia ;  Imbriani  brought 
forward  a  number  of  good  reasons  disproving  the  existence  of 
a  second  daughter,  Beatrice.    Concerning  Gemma  Donati  we 
have  very  little  information.     She  survived  Dante,  appearing 
in  a  document  as  late  as  the  year  1333 ;  and  yet  Dante,  ac- 
cording to  Boccaccio's  statement,  is  said  not  to  have  seen  her 
again  after  his  exile.     It  is  true  that  she  could  never  have 
left  Florence  for  long,  seeing  that  after  her  husband's  de- 
parture, as  we  learn  from  the  same  Boccaccio,  she  lived 
penuriously  with  her  children,  and,  however  fond  the  impe- 
cunious father  may  have  been  of  them,  he  could  not  dream 
of  taking  them  with  him  on  his  wanderings  far  and  wide. 
Dante  never  alluded  to  Gemma  in  his  works,  but  that  is  easily 
conceivable :  for  the  subjects  he  treated  did  not  give  him  the 


r:<' 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


267 


opportunity.  The  love  he  celebrated  was  a  very  different 
thing  from  the  love  that  his  wife  could  offer  him.  Love,  as 
it  appears  with  Dante  and  his  contemporaries,  really  ex- 
cludes marriage ;  all  these  poets  maintain  an  absolute  silence 
on  the  subject  of  their  family  affairs.  The  wife  plays  a  pro- 
saic part :  she  stands  entirely  beyond  the  literary  horizon, 
and,  by  the  side  of  the  sentiments  inspired  by  her,  it  was 
quite  possible  for  another  emotional  life  to  exist,  which  was 
regarded  as  the  higher  of  the  two.  This,  too,  excludes  the 
possibility  of  recognising  in  Gemma  Donati  the  Donna  con- 
solatf'tce  of  the  "  Vita  Nuova,"  a  theory  which  is  always  being 
advanced  :  for,  in  addition  to  the  fact  that  the  circumstances 
do  not  tally,  marriage  could  not,  in  any  case,  have  appeared 
to  Dante  as  a  contrast  to  his  love,  as  an  act  of  infidelity  to- 
wards Beatrice.  In  spite  of  all  this,  attempts  have  been  made 
to  find  in  the  "Commedia"  hidden  and  indirect  allusions, 
which  were  supposed  to  demonstrate  the  discord  between 
husband  and  wife  and  Gemma's  bad  character ;  there  have 
been  interminable  disputes  on  this  subject,  but  without  any 
definite  result.  In  any  case,  we  should  guard  against  making 
absolute  deductions  from  Dante's  moral  invectives.  MoraHsa- 
tion  and  satire  easily  exaggerate,  and  easily  make  the  author 
say  more,  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  than  he  would  do  if 
he  had  first  calmly  considered  all  the  points ;  and  this  applies 
with  special  force  to  a  man  of  Dante's  passionate  tempera- 
ment. When,  for  example,  we  read  at  the  end  of  the  can- 
zone, "  Poscia  ch'  Amor,"  that  all  living  people  act  contrarily 
to  the  rules  of  Leggiadria^  are  we  to  assume  that  the  poet 
really  thought  that  no  man  existed  in  the  world  possessing 
courteous  manners  ?  That  would  not  be  in  accordance  with 
what  he  himself  says  in  other  places.  From  all  the  laborious 
researches  of  which  poor  Gemma  Donati  has  been  the  ob- 
ject, we  can  deduce  nothing  beyond  what  we  might  have 
guessed  all  along,  namely,  that  Dante's  marriage  was  a  pro- 
saic affair,  concluded  like  any  other  business  matter,  in  order 
to  fulfil  the  duties  of  social  position,  and  devoid  of  all 
romance — in  other  words,  it  was  a  marriage  after  the  manner 
of  all  marriages,  probably,  in  those  times,  and  of  so  many 
in  our  own  day. 

The  old  communes  of  the  thirteenth  century  did  not  allow 
their  citizens  a  calm  existence  of  contemplation,  nor  was 


mm 


■j^i] 


268      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Dante's  nature  made  for  such  a  life.     In  his  younger  days 
he  had  borne  arms  for  his  native  city,  and  now  he  fulfilled 
his  duties  towards  it  by  personally  participating  in  its  public 
affairs.    This  political  activity  was  the  cause  of  his  sorrowful 
fate.     But  his  poetry  was  the  gainer  by  this  hard  schooling 
of  experience  and  suffering ;  it  was  touched  by  the  breath  of 
his  stormy  life,  and  became  the  expression  of  the  powerful 
forces  by  which  that  age  and  that  society  were  moved.    To- 
day, when  we  regard  matters  from  a  distance,  it  is  easily 
conceivable  that  Dante  must  necessarily  have  played  an  im- 
portant political  part ;  but  such  a  circumstance  was  almost 
an  impossibility  in  the  Florence  of  that  time,  even  for  a  man 
of  genius.    The  constitution  was  essentially  democratic ;  the 
signoria  of  the  priors  changed  every  two  months,  and  each 
decree  had  to  pass  a  number  of  councils,  consisting  of  many 
members,  before  it  could  be    executed.     The   individual 
scarcely  counted,  and  neither  talent  nor  skill  could  achieve 
for  a  statesman  a  position  of  lasting  precedence.     And  so 
we  may  now  take  a  keen  interest  in  Dante's  public  actions, 
but  they  were  of  no  particular  importance  in  themselves,  and 
no  one  at  the  time  thought  of  attributing  any  such  importance 
to  them.     Through  the  victory  of  the  Guelphs  over  the 
Ghibellines  in  1267,  and  through  the  constitutional  reform 
of  1282,  the  government  had,  more  and  more,  passed  over 
into  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  the  famous  Ordiname?iti 
della  giustizia  of  the  year  1293  excluded  the  nobles  altogether 
from  offices  of  state.     It  is  true  that  subsequently,  in  1295, 
a  concession  was  made  to  them.     Just  as,  in  the  Roman 
Republic,  the  patricians  could  attain  to  the  office  of  a  tribune 
by  letting  themselves,  pro  forma^  be  adopted  by  a  plebeian, 
so,  too,  in  Florence,  the  members  of  the  aristocracy  again 
acquired  the  right  of  taking  part  in  the  government,  by  in- 
scribing themselves  in  one  of  the  guilds,  frequently,  of  course, 
without  actually  following  the  handiwork  or  trade.     It  is 
disputed  whether  Dante  was  in  this  position.     Formerly  it 
was  held  to  be  an  undoubted  fact  that  his  family  belonged 
to  the  nobiUty.     But  Todeschini  raised  a  number  of  doubts 
as  to  the  correctness  of  this  very  old  view;  and  although 
Fenaroli  dissipated  a  number  of  these,  yet  there  are  still 
some  unclear  points  which  are  open  to  doubt.     According 
to  an  old  register,  Dante  was  admitted  to  the  guild  of  phy- 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


269 


sicians  and  apothecaries,  which  approached  most  closely  to 
his  own  scientific  pursuits ;  however,  this  is  no  proof  of  his 
nobility,  since  he  would  have  had  to  enter  a  guild  also  as 
popolano.  On  June  5th,  1296,  he  was  a  member  of  the 
council  of  the  hundred,  and  addressed  the  assembly.  On 
May  5th,  1299,  ^^  was  in  the  commune  of  S.  Gemignano, 
as  the  ambassador  of  Florence  in  matters  pertaining  to  the 
Tuscan  Guelph  league.  In  the  year  1300,  from  June  15th 
to  August  15th,  he  was  one  of  the  college  of  the  six  priors. 
The  Guelph  party  in  Florence  had  for  some  time  been 
divided.  At  the  beginning  it  was  a  question  of  discord  be- 
tween two  great  families,  the  Cerchi  and  Donati,  in  the  same 
way  as  the  Guelph  and  the  Ghibelline  parties  had  arisen ; 
and,  as  in  this  case,  this  struggle  went  on  assuming  wider 
dimensions,  other  families  taking  part  in  it.  Dante's  very 
election  appears  to  have  been  a  stormy  one,  and  to  have 
been  opposed  by  his  enemies ;  this  may  be  inferred  from  the 
subsequent  words  of  the  poet  in  a  letter  quoted  by  Leonardo 
Aretino,  to  the  effect  that  all  his  troubles  were  begun  and 
caused  in  the  assembly  that  elected  him  prior.  When  the 
attitude  of  the  two  hostile  parties  became  more  threatening, 
the  signoria  determined,  in  order  to  secure  peace,  to  remove 
the  most  important  adherents  of  each  from  Florence  (June 
24th,  1300).  The  Donateschi  were  sent  to  Castel  della 
Pieve ;  the  Cercheschi,  and  among  them  Guido  Cavalcanti, 
to  Sarzana.  The  latter  were  soon  permitted  to  return,  owing 
to  the  unhealthiness  of  the  air  in  their  place  of  exile,  where 
Guido  had  been  taken  ill ;  but  when  this  took  place  Dante 
was  no  longer  in  office.  Then  the  Donateschi  returned 
home;  only  Corso  Donati  remained  in  Rome,  and  tried 
to  win  over  the  Pope  to  his  party,  which  pretended 
to  be  the  only  true  Guelph  party,  and  endeavoured  to 
denounce  its  more  moderate  opponents  as  Ghibellines. 
Upon  the  discovery  of  a  conspiracy,  the  heads  of  the 
Donateschi  were  again  banished  (June,  1301),  and  the 
Cerchi  obtained  the  supremacy  in  Florence.  After  they  had, 
at  Pistoja,  decided  the  struggle  between  the  two  branches 
of  the  Cancellieri  family,  called  Bianchi  and  Neri,  in  favour 
of  the  Bianchi,  to  whom  they  were  related,  and  driven  out 
the  Neri  (towards  the  end  of  May,  1301),  they  and  their 
party  assumed  the  name  of  Bianchi,  while  the  Donateschi 


I  n 


270     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

called  themselves  Neri.     During  these  troublous  times,  in 
which  a  heavy  disaster  was  preparing  for  the  city  and  for 
Dante,  the  latter  appears  several  times  in  his  public  capacity. 
On  April  13th  and  14th,  1301,  he  voted  in  the  council  of 
the  Capitudini  (that  is,  the  heads  of  guilds)  and  other  Sapi- 
entes^  on  the  manner  of  electing  the  signoria.    On  April  28th, 
1 30 1,  he  was  commissioned  by  a  decree  of  the  six  officials 
of  the  Florentine  roads  and  ways,  together  with  a  notary, 
Ser  Guglielmo  della  Fiagentina,  to  see  to  the  widening  and 
repair  of  the  street  of  S.  Procolo,  from  the  Borgo  della 
Fiagentina  to  the  little  river  Affrico.     On  June  19th,  1301, 
he  voted,  in  two  meetings  of  the  council  of  the  hundred,  to 
the  effect  that  the  commune  should  not  grant  to  the  Fope 
the  auxiliary  force  of  a  hundred  troops  demanded  by  him 
{quod  de  servitio  faciendo  domino  PapcB  nihil  fiat),  a  vote 
which  was  in  the  minority,  and  which  served  later  as  one  of 
the  charges  levied  against  Dante.     Once  again  he  voted,  on 
September  13th,  1301  (the  nature  of  the  vote  being  unknown 
to  us),  in  an  assembly  of  all  the  councils,  on  the  measures  for 
the  preservation  of  the  ordinamenti  diud  statutes  of  the  people. 
Fope  Boniface  VIII.,  being  pressed  by  the  Neri,  and  him- 
self fully  disposed  to  make  use  of  the  opportunity  for  in- 
creasing his  power  in  Florence,  determined  to  send  into  the 
city  a  so-called  pacificator,  in  the  person  of  Charles  of  Valois, 
the  brother  of  Fhilip  the  Fair  of  France.     For  while  the 
imperial  throne  was  vacant,  the  Fope  claimed  the  imperial 
sovereign  rights,  including  the  authority  to  appoint  a  vicar 
for  the  province  of  Tuscany,  which  was  under  the  sway  of  the 
Empire.     Charles  of  Valois  came  to  Florence  on  November 
I  St.     Before  entering  the  city,  he  had  sworn  to  respect  its 
laws;   however,  he   did  not  keep  his  word,  soon  openly 
favoured  the  Neri,  and  utilised  his  stay  mainly  for  the  pur- 
pose of  extorting  enormous  sums  of  money.     Corso  Donati 
broke  into  the  town,  and  for  several  days  the  Neri  went  on 
ruthlessly  pillaging  and  burning  the  houses,  there  being  also 
a  sacrifice  of  human  life.     The  last  signoria  of  the  Bianchi 
was  forced  to  resign  before  its  time ;  one  composed  of  the 
Neri  was  set  up  instead,  and  the  power  thus  acquired  was, 
as  was  usual  in  these  struggles  of  the  Italian  communes, 
utilised  by  the  victorious  party  in  order  to  suppress  their 
opponents  in  cruel  fashion.     In  the  course  of  the  year  1302 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


271 


more  than  six  hundred  of  these  were  condemned,  some  to 
death  and  others  to  banishment.  The  crimes  with  which 
they  were  charged  were  fraud  or  offences  against  the  au- 
thorities, these  being,  of  course,  in  nearly  every  case,  nothing 
but  pretexts  for  the  purpose  of  getting  rid  of  opponents, 
and  consequently  the  accusation  was  frequently  based  en- 
tirely on  public  rumour.  Dante  shared  the  fate  of  so  many 
others ;  against  him,  among  the  first,  was  directed  a  decree 
of  the  Podestd  Cante  de'  Gabrielli  of  Gubbio,  dated  January 
27th,  which  accuses  him,  "  super  eo  et  ex  eo  quod  ad  aures 
nostras  et  curie  nostre  notitiam,  fama  publica  referente,  per- 
venit,"  of  embezzlement,  extortion,  corruption,  and  of  agita- 
tion against  the  Fope,  Charles  of  Valois  and  the  peaceful 
condition  of  the  city  and  of  the  Guelph  party,  and  which 
condemns  him  in  contumaciam  to  the  payment  of  a  very  con- 
siderable sum  of  money  {s^ooo  fiorini piccioli),  or,  in  default 
of  payment  within  three  days,  to  the  confiscation  of  all  his 
belongings,  and,  in  any  case,  to  banishment  from  Tuscany 
for  two  years  and  to  exclusion  from  all  offices  and  dignities. 
Another  decree,  dated  March  loth,  determines  that,  as  he 
had  not  paid  the  money,  or  appeared  in  answer  to  the  sum- 
mons, thus  tacitly  admitting  his  guilt,  he  was  to  be  burnt 
alive,  if  he  ever  fell  into  the  power  of  the  commune. 

Thus  the  party  strife,  that  was  unceasingly  convulsing  the 
Italian  republics,  cast  the  greatest  poet  of  Italy,  together  with 
many  other  good  citizens,  from  his  native  city.  At  a  time 
when  men  were  so  much  more  closely  attached  to  the  soil 
and  circumstances  of  their  birth,  banishment  meant  some- 
thing far  deeper  than  it  does  to-day,  and  the  separation 
from  all  that  a  man  most  cherished  was  a  catastrophe  decisive 
for  his  whole  future.  The  exiled  Florentine  Guelphs  joined 
the  Ghibellines  who  had  long  been  banished,  and  with  whom 
they  had  always  been  more  friendly  than  with  the  Neri,  and 
made  several  armed  attempts  against  the  town.  On  June  8th, 
1302,  the  Cerchi,  Uberti,  Ubertini,  Guidalotti,  Fazzi,  and 
Ricasoli  came  together  in  the  choir  of  the  church  of  S.  Go- 
denzo  in  the  Mugello,  in  order  to  give  the  Ubaldini  assur- 
ance of  compensation  for  their  possessions,  especially  for 
the  strong  castle  of  Montaccenico,  during  the  forthcoming 
struggle ;  Dante  was  also  present,  his  name  figuring  in  the 
document,  which   is  still  extant,  among  those  who  went 


t* 


272     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

security  for  the  agreement  that  was  come  to.  However,  in 
this  combined  party  of  the  Bianchi  and  Ghibellines,  lowly 
passions,  such  as  banishment  is  wont  to  foster  among  the 
conquered,  discord,  jealousy,  and  selfishness,  soon  began  to 
make  themselves  felt,  and  so  Dante's  lofty  mind  did  not 
long  brook  this  companionship ;  the  thought  of  being  chained 
to  vile  and  common  men  by  the  same  destiny  was  more 
oppressive  to  him  than  even  his  misfortunes.  This  we  learn 
from  the  famous  verses,  in  which  he  makes  his  ancestor, 
Cacciaguida,  prophecy  his  fate  to  him  ("  Par."  xvii.  6i,  sqq,) : 

And  that  which  most  shall  weigh  upon  thy  shoulders 

Will  be  the  bad  and  foolish  company 

With  which  into  this  valley  thou  shalt  fall ; 

For  all  ingrate,  all  mad  and  impious 

Will  they  become  against  thee  ;  but  soon  after 

They,  and  not  thou,  shall  have  the  forehead  scarlet. 

Of  their  bestiality  their  own  proceedings 

Shall  furnish  proof ;  so  'twill  be  well  for  thee 

A  party  to  have  made  thee  by  thyself. 

As  he  sees  that  he  is  no  longer  understood,  either  by  the 
Guelphs  or  by  the  Ghibellines,  he  withdraws  within  himself, 
and  forms,  as  he  proudly  says,  a  party  for  himself.  This 
probably  took  place  in  1303,  after  the  army  of  the  exiles 
had  suffered  defeat  at  the  castle  of  Pulicciano,  in  the  spring 
of  that  year.  In  the  same  year  (1303),  or  at  the  beginning 
of  the  following,  he  went  to  Northern  Italy,  where  he  found 
his  first  refuge  at  the  court  of  Bartolommeo  della  Scala  in 
Verona.  On  the  death  of  Pope  Boniface,  his  gentle  suc- 
cessor, Benedict  XL,  sent  the  Cardinal  Niccolb  of  Prato, 
Bishop  of  Ostia,  to  Florence,  at  the  beginning  of  March, 
1304,  in  order  to  restore  peace ;  however,  his  efforts  proved 
unavailing.  On  July  20th  the  Bianchi,  under  the  leadership 
of  Baschiera  della  Tosa  of  La  Lastra,  made  an  attack  on 
Florence  and  entered  the  city,  but  they  lost  their  advantage 
owing  to  lack  of  caution,  and  were  again  repulsed.  In  the 
year  1306  (April  loth)  Pistoja  fell,  which  town  Tolosano 
degli  Uberti  had  bravely  defended  for  almost  a  year,  and 
shortly  after  Montaccenico  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Flor- 
entines, through  treachery  on  the  part  of  the  Ubaldini. 
The  fresh  negotiations  of  the  Papal  peace-maker,  Cardmal 
Napoleone  Orsini,  were  again   unsuccessful,   and  so  the 


DANTE'S   LIFE  AND   MINOR  WORKS 


273 


banished  party  lost  all  hope  in  the  year  1307.     Dante  led 

a  wandering  life,  often  suffering  actual  want,  and  forced  to 

avail  himself  of  the  aid  of  strangers  for  his  subsistence,  seeing 

that  his  small  possessions  in  Florence  had  been  confiscated. 

In  his  letter  of  condolence,  written  on  the  death  of  Alessandro 

da  Romena  to  his  nephews  Oberto  and  Guido  (circa  1304), 

he  says  that  poverty  had  prevented  him  from  attending  the 

funeral.     So  haughty  a  temperament  must  have  found  it 

specially  hard  to  live  on  the  charity  which  the  princes  and 

nobles  of  those  days  often  doled  out  to  the  accompaniment 

of  insults : 

Thou  shalt  have  proof  how  savoureth  of  salt 
The  bread  of  others,  and  how  hard  a  road 
The  going  down  and  up  another's  stairs. 

Such  is  the  prophecy  of  Cacciaguida  in  the  passage  of  the 
"Paradiso"  already  quoted,  and  touching  is  the  poet's 
lament  concerning  his  exile,  at  the  beginning  of  the  "  Con- 
vivio "  (i.  3) :  "  Almost  in  every  part  over  which  this  lan- 
guage extends  have  I  been,  a  wanderer,  almost  a  beggar, 
showing  against  my  will  the  wound  of  my  destiny.  .  .  . 
Truly  I  have  been  a  ship  without  sails  and  without  rudder. 
.  .  ."  ^  It  is  now  altogether  impossible  to  specify  the  various 
localities  in  which  he  stayed  in  turn,  and  only  isolated  in- 
cidents of  this  sorrowful  pilgrimage  are  known  to  us  from 
documents.  On  August  27th,  1306,  he  was  in  Padua,  where 
he  witnessed  the  settlement  of  a  notary's  deed.  On  Octo- 
ber 6th  of  the  same  year  he  signed,  at  Sarzana,  in  the 
Lunigiana,  as  procurator  of  the  Marchese  Franceschino 
Malaspina,  the  treaty  of  peace  between  the  latter's  family 
and  the  Bishop  Antonio  of  Luni.  Accordingly,  Dante's 
sojourn  at  the  court  of  the  Malaspina,  to  which  he  grate- 
fully alluded  in  the  eighth  canto  of  the  "  Purgatorio," 
probably  falls  in  the  same  period.  Then  Dante  proceeded 
to  the  Casentino ;  it  has  been  assumed  that  he  lived  with 
Guido  Salvatico,  of  the  line  of  the  Counts  Guidi  of  Dova- 
dola,  but  this  theory  is  not  supported  by  any  positive  proof. 
From  this  place  he  addressed  to  Moroello  Malaspina  of 
Villafranca,  with  whom  he  had  stayed  last  before  his  de- 
parture, a  letter,  in  which  he  tells  him  how,  on  reaching  the 

^  That  he  was  really  reduced  to  begging  of  the  great,  is  shown  by 
the  letter  to  Can  Grande,  §  32. 

I.  T 


274     HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

sources  of  the  Arno,  he  had  suddenly  fallen  deeply  in  love, 
and  how  he  had  accordingly  been  forced  to  relinquish  his 
intention,  to  extol  women  in  song  no  longer,  and  to  devote 
himself  solely  to  earnest  scientific  research ;  and  he  sends 
him  a  canzone  describing  his  new  passion. 

A  passion  thus  overtaking  a  man  who  was  more  than 
forty  years  of  age,  and  occupied  with  the  loftiest  thoughts, 
was  manifestly  a  pure,  Platonic  love,  of  the  kind  that  mostly 
inspired  the  poetry  of  those  days.  The  style  of  the  letter, 
with  its  violent  images,  does  not  speak  against  this  theory. 
The  loved  one  is  an  apparition,  descending  like  a  flash  of 
lightning ;  the  flame  of  her  beauty  has  on  him  the  eff'ect  of 
a  thunder-clap.  The  canzone,  which  repeats  some  of  the 
expressions  of  the  letter,  is  entirely  in  the  manner  of  the 
Florentine  philosophical  school.  The  soul  paints  for  itself 
the  image  of  Madonna,  and  contemplates  it,  whereupon  it 
is  enraged  against  itself  for  having  kindled  the  flame  by 
which  it  is  consumed.  Life  flies,  stricken  by  love,  and 
then  the  soul  returns  into  the  heart,  and  the  lover,  regarding 
the  wound  that  was  destroying  him,  trembles  with  fear. 
Besides,  if  the  poem  had  not  been  inspired  by  a  spiritual 
passion  of  this  kind,  it  would  not  have  been  deemed  of 
sufficient  importance  to  form  the  subject  of  a  letter  to  a 
prince.  A  new  love  may  appear  to  contradict  Dante's 
position  and  train  of  thought  at  the  time ;  but  anyone  who, 
on  that  account,  rejects  the  whole  affair,  declaring  the  letter 
not  to  be  genuine,  and  interpreting  the  canzone  allegorically, 
does  not  know  the  contradictions  of  the  human  heart.  A 
passage  in  the  "Purgatorio"  points  to  another  transitory 
passion  that  falls  within  the  period  of  exile.  It  is  very 
obscure,  and  has  therefore  given  rise  to  a  number  of  con- 
jectures. When  Dante  approaches  the  soul  of  the  poet 
Buonagiunta  of  Lucca,  he  hears  him  murmur  something, 
and  catches  the  name  of  Gentucca.  Farther  on,  the  soul 
says  to  him  ('*  Purg."  xxiv.  43,  sqq.) : 

A  maid  is  bom,  and  wears  not  yet  the  veil  («./.  is  not  yet  married), 

....  who  to  thee  shall  pleasant  make 

My  city,  howsoever  men  may  blame  it. 

Thou  shalt  go  on  thy  way  with  this  prevision ; 

If  by  my  murmuring  thou  hast  been  deceived, 

True  things  hereafter  will  declare  it  to  thee. 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


275 


So  Dante  at  one  time  loved  in  Lucca  a  woman  named 
Gentucca,  who  was  not  married  in  the  year  1300.  That  is 
all  we  learn,  and  every  conjecture  that  has  been  made  con- 
cerning the  person  of  Gentucca  is  entirely  devoid  of  founda- 
tion. The  only  thing  that  appears  to  me  certain,  is  that 
this,  too,  was  a  pure  and  spiritual  love ;  had  it  been  other- 
wise, Dante  would  not  have  immortalised  it  at  this  stage  of 
his  mystic  journey.  The  question  is,  when  did  this  sojourn 
in  Lucca  take  place  ?  It  is  generally  assumed  that  it  was 
between  the  years  13 14  and  13 16,  when  Uguccione  della 
Faggiuola  had  taken  possession  of  the  town;  for  prior  to 
this  he  belonged  to  the  Guelph  party,  and  was  in  alliance 
with  Florence.  But  Witte  rightly  considers  this  a  doubtful 
date ;  after  forming  a  party  for  himself,  Dante  had  no  reason 
to  keep  him  from  staying  with  Guelphs,  and  some  of  his 
most  generous  patrons  were  Guelphs,  such  as  the  Malaspina, 
and  later,  Guido  da  Polenta,  at  whose  court  he  died.  At  a 
time,  therefore,  when  the  struggles  had  ceased,  that  is,  be- 
tween the  years  1307  and  13 10,  he  could  very  well  pay  a 
visit  to  Lucca.  He  himself  was  in  a  conciliatory  mood  at 
the  time.  That  may  be  seen  from  the  "  Convivio,"  which 
contains  no  violent  words  against  his  native  town,  but  in 
which,  on  the  contrary,  the  wish  is  expressed  that  he  might 
be  allowed,  with  the  consent  of  the  citizens,  to  rest  his  weary 
mind  there,  and  to  pass  there  the  remainder  of  his  life 
(i.  3) ;  and,  according  to  Leonardo  Aretino,  he  addressed 
an  epistle  to  the  people  of  Florence,  which  demonstrated 
his  innocence,  and  began  with  the  words  of  Micah  (vi.  3) : 
"  Popule  mee,  quid  feci  tibi  ?  " 

The  most  interesting  details  concerning  the  poet's  wander- 
ings and  frame  of  mind  at  this  time  are  contained  in  the 
letter  of  Frate  Ilario,  the  authenticity  of  which  is,  however, 
exceedingly  doubtful.  The  author,  a  monk  of  the  Convent 
of  Santa  Croce  del  Corvo,  in  the  Lunigiana,  is  sending  to 
Uguccione  della  Faggiuola  the  first  part  of  the  "  Commedia," 
and  writes  to  him  that  the  man  whose  work  he  is  receiving, 
had  come  to  the  convent,  and,  on  being  asked  what  he 
wanted,  had  remained  silent  and  contemplated  the  building, 
and  finally,  on  being  asked  again,  had  replied,  with  his  eyes 
fixed  on  it :  "  Peace."  Having  become  more  closely  ac- 
quainted with  Ilario,  he  had  drawn  a  little  book  from  his 


i 


276      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

breast  and  handed  it  to  the  monk,  and  when  the  latter  ex- 
pressed surprised  at  its  being  written  in  ItaUan,  he  had  said 
that  he  had  first  begun  it  in  Latin,  but  then  chosen  the 
other  language,  as  the  knowledge  of  Latin  was  decreasing 
more  and  more.  Ilario  was  to  provide  it  with  notes  and  to 
send  it  to  Uguccione ;  the  other  two  parts  were  to  be  dedi- 
cated to  Moroello  Malaspina  and  to  Frederick  of  Sicily. 
According  to  the  monk's  statement,  Dante,  when  he  came 
to  the  monastery  of  Santa  Croce  del  Corvo,  was  on  the  way 
ad  partes  ultramontanas,  by  which  is  undoubtedly  meant — 
to  France.  This  epistle  contains  extremely  improbable 
statements.  Above  all,  how  are  we  to  believe  that  Dante 
handed  his  work  to  an  unknown  monk,  in  order  that  he 
should  transmit  it  and  write  a  commentary  on  it,  and  that 
this  monk,  who  had  previously  not  even  known  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  book,  should  have  been  able  to  undertake  such 
a  task  after  a  conversation  of  some  hours  with  the  poet  ? 
Accordingly,  the  letter  has  for  a  long  time  been  regarded  as 
apocryphal.  Scheffer-Boichorst  endeavoured  to  save  it; 
but,  at  the  outside,  he  proved  that  it  is  a  very  old  forgery 
and  that  Boccaccio  considered  it  genuine.  Scheffer-Boich- 
orst fixes  its  date  as  1 306,  Dante  having  really  been  in  the 
Lunigiana  at  that  time,  and  presumably,  therefore,  on  the 
road  to  Paris.  But  he  forgets  that,  in  1306  or  1307,  Dante 
proceeded  from  the  Lunigiana  to  the  sources  of  the  Arno, 
which  do  not,  by  any  means,  lie  on  the  road  from  Sarzana 
to  France.  Villani  and  Boccaccio,  likewise,  speak  of  a 
journey  Dante  made  to  Paris.  But  perhaps  the  two  old 
biographers  based  this  statement  concerning  a  sojourn  at 
the  most  celebrated  theological  university  on  some  doubtful 
tradition,  which  may  have  been  due  to  Dante's  theological 
knowledge.  An  acquaintance  with  French  matters  such  as 
the  poet  reveals  in  his  works,  may  have  been  acquired  by 
him  without  his  ever  having  set  eyes  on  France. 

While  Dante  was  still  deceiving  himself  with  the  hope  of 
returning  peacefully  to  Florence,  a  new  chance  suddenly 
presented  itself  for  the  fulfilment  of  his  wishes  from  an  un- 
expected quarter,  which  tallied  in  every  way  with  his  politi- 
cal convictions.  The  new  German  Emperor,  Henry  VII.^ 
descended  into  Italy  with  an  army,  in  order  to  enforce  the 
rights  of  the  Empire  that  had  long  been  neglected,  and  to 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


277 


restore  order  in  the  land.     In  the  "Convivio,"  where  he 
teaches  philosophical  truths,  Dante  had  also  made  a  political 
profession  of  faith  (iv.  4,  5) ;    for  philosophy  and  politics, 
according  to  his  view,  were  not  separated,  and  the  latter 
formed  an  integral  part  of  ethics.     If  humanity  would  attain 
its  object  on  earth,  namely,  happiness  in  the  exercise  of 
virtue,  it  has  need  of  peace.     Strife,  however,  continually 
reigns  throughout  the  world,  unless  there  be  one  ruler,  who 
requires  nothing  for  himself,  because  everything  is  subjected 
to  him,  and  who  accordingly  governs  justly,  and  maintains 
harmony   among   the   princes   and   cities.     This   universal 
monarchy,  the  one  source  of  all  power  on  earth,  which  is 
indispensable  for  the  happiness  of  mankind,  was,  according 
to  Dante,  the  Roman  Empire,  and  he  shows  how  the  Roman 
people,    "the   holy  people,  with  whose  blood   the   noble 
Trojan  blood  was  mingled,"  did  not  attain  to  the  supreme 
rule  of  the  world  by  mere  force,  but  were  destined  to  exer- 
cise this   sway  by  the   Providence  of  God.     And  so  the 
Roman  Emperor  was  the  legitimate  authority,  that  had  to 
step  in,   in   all   cases   of  confusion   and   injustice.      This 
political  theory  of  Dante's,  which  had  been  a  mere  ideal  since 
the  death  of  Frederick  IL,  was  realised  when  Henry  VII. 
crossed  the  Alps  in  October  of  the  year  1310.     And,  in- 
deed, he  came  with  the  noblest  and  purest  intentions,  filled 
with  the  loftiest  ideas  concerning  his  duties  as  ruler,  not  as 
the  protector  of  a  party,  but  as  a  true  peacemaker,  not  as 
an  opponent  of  the  Church,  but  in  agreement  with  it,  and  in 
order  to  protect  its  authority.     Dante  saw  in  him  the  politi- 
cal saviour,  sent  as  it  were  by  God  himself,  who  would  heal 
all  the  wounds  of  his  unhappy  country  and  open  the  gates 
of  his  native  city  to  himself,  the  just  and  innocent  man  who 
had  been  persecuted.     He  hastens  to  contemplate  with  his 
own  eyes  the  Lord's  chosen  one,  and  doubts  not  of  his  suc- 
cess;    for,  in  his  first  joy,  he  cannot  believe  that  anyone 
could  wish  to  oppose  the  Divine  Providence,  that  was  reveal- 
ing itself  so  manifestly.    And  so,  in  order  to  serve  the  sacred 
cause  as  best  he  can,  he  writes  a  Latin  epistle  to  the  princes 
and  people  of  Italy,  with  the  inscription  :  "  All  the  kings  of 
Italy  and  the  senators  of  the  Eternal  City,  together  and 
singly,  as  well  as  the  dukes,  margraves,  counts,  and  people, 
the  humble  Italian  {humilis  Italus)^  Dante  AUaghieri,  of 


2/8     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Florence,  who  has  been  banished  without  any  fault  of  his 
own,  prays  for  peace."  The  sun  of  peace  and  justice,  he 
says,  is  appearing.  Italy,  that  is  now  arousing  the  pity  even 
of  the  Saracens,  may  rejoice ;  for  soon  she  will  be  the  en- 
vied of  the  earth,  seeing  that  her  spouse  is  approaching,  the 
solace  of  the  world.  All  should  humbly  submit  to  the 
Emperor,  to  whom  all  belongs,  who  is  descending  in  order 
to  let  right  and,  still  more,  gentleness,  have  their  sway.  But 
the  oppressed  may  hope  and  have  confidence.  And  he  recalls 
the  divine  origin  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  of  the  imperial 
power,  whereof  he  had  treated  in  the  "Convivio."  The 
spiritual  and  secular  powers  were  often  represented,  since 
the  time  of  Innocent  III.,  and  perhaps  still  earlier,  by  the 
image  of  the  greater  and  lesser  light,  of  the  sun  and  the  moon, 
which  God  created  at  the  beginning.  Dante,  too,  employed 
the  image  in  this  passage.  The  Pope  and  the  Emperor 
work  together ;  Pope  Clement  illuminates  the  ruler  with  the 
light  of  the  apostolic  blessing,  "in  order  that,  when  the 
spiritual  ray  does  not  suffice,  the  splendour  of  the  lesser 
light  may  spread  light."  This  letter,  like  Dante's  other 
epistles  on  public  affairs,  is  composed  in  a  solemn  style, 
full  of  Biblical  words  and  with  expressions  and  images  that 
are  far-fetched  in  their  gravity  and  sublimity.  It  is  the 
emphatic  style  that  had  been  brought  into  vogue  for  politi- 
cal writings  by  Pier  della  Vigna  and  his  friends,  at  the  court 
of  Frederick  II. 

But  the  Emperor's  impartial  justice  and  mildness  did  not 
suit  the  irreconcilable  factions  in  the  Italian  towns;  they 
continued  their  old  struggles  before  his  eyes.  The  Guelph 
communes  showed  themselves  hostile,  and  thus  forced  him 
to  be  cruel  and  severe.  Florence  became  the  centre  of  the 
Italian  opposition  to  the  Emperor,  agitating  against  him  in 
the  most  violent  manner,  and  everywhere  creating  enemies 
and  obstacles  to  his  cause.  On  seeing  this,  the  poet,  dis- 
appointed and  embittered,  hurls  a  fresh  epistle  against  his 
native  city:  "Dante  Allaghieri,  Florentine  and  exile  with- 
out any  fault  of  his  own,  to  the  most  wicked  Florentines 
within  {sceieratissimis  Florentinis  intrinsecis)"  in  which  he 
prophesies  to  them  a  terrible  punishment  for  their  ob- 
stinacy ;  it  is  too  late,  he  says,  for  repentance,  and  their 
walls  and  battlements  will  not  protect  them,  when  the  Im- 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS  2/9 

perial  eagle  shall  come  down  on  them,  bringing  destruction. 
He  calls  them  :  "  Oh  vainest  of  Tuscans,  senseless  through 
nature  and  through  vice  ! "    "  Oh  most  wretched  descendants 
of  the  people  of  Fsesulae  ! "  he  exclaims,  "  oh  new  Punic 
barbarism!"     In  his  enthusiastic  admiration  of  Impenal 
majesty,  he  ventures,  as  Frederick  II.  did,  to  compare  it 
with  Christ :  Henry,  in  his  divine  triumph,  voluntarily  takes 
our  sins  on  himself,  so  that  Isaiah's  prophecy  applies  also  to 
him.'     This  letter  is  dated  March  31st,  131 1,  from  the  source 
of  the  Arno.     It  has  been  assumed  that  he  was  staying  with 
the  Count  Guidonovello  of  Battifolleat  Poppi,  because  three 
letters  addressed  at  that  time  by  the  wife  of  this  count  to  the 
Empress  Margaret,  are  supposed  to  have  been  written  by 
Dante  in   her   name;   however,   this   is  doubtful.     When 
Dante  saw  that  Henry  was  losing  his  time  in  the  North  by 
punishing  the  rebels,  he  wrote  to  him  on  April  1 8th,  again 
from  the  source  of  the  Arno,  in  the  name  of  the  well-inten- 
tioned Tuscans,  exhorting  him  not  to  waste  his  time  by 
undertaking  expeditions  against  the  Lombard  cities.     For 
that  it  was  useless  cutting  off  the  hydra's  heads;  rather 
should  the  stubborn  ones  be  attacked  immediately  in  their 
actual  centre.    "  Dost  thou,  perchance  not  know,"  he  writes, 
"where  the  stinking  vixen,  secure  from  the  hunters,  has 
sought  her  lair?     Assuredly,  the  wicked   one   drinks  not 
from   the  rapid  Po,  nor  from  the  Tiber,  but  her  mouth 
fouls  the  waters  of  the  river  Arno,  and  Florence  (dost  thou 
not  know  it  ?)  is  the  name  of  this  horrible  corruption.     That 
is  the  viper,  which  turns  against  the  bowels  of  its  mother ; 
that  is  the  scurvy  sheep,  which  contaminates  with  its  infec- 
tion the  flock  of  the  Lord ;  that  is  the  abandoned  Myrrha, 
burning  for  her  father's  embraces."     Nay,  more,  he  quotes 
for  the  Emperor's  benefit  the  verses  of  Lucan,  in  which 
Curio  urges  Caesar  to  cross  the  Rubicon,  while  the  enemy 
are  still  badly  armed— this  being  the  same  counsel  for  which 
he  placed  Curio  in  Hell,  among  the  instigators  of  the  civil 
war.     At  last  Henry  really  came  to  Central  Italy  and  received 
the  Imperial  crown  at  Rome  from  the  hands  of  Papal  legates. 
Then  he  besieged  Florence,  which  he  had  put  under  the  ban 
of  the  Empire,  but  had  to  leave  the  town  without  accomplish- 

^  In  the  letter  to  the  emperor  Dante  applies  to  him  the  words: 
**Ecce  Agnus  Dei,  ecce  qui  tollit  peccata  mundi." 


I 


28o     HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

ing  his  object.  He  died  suddenly  on  August  24th,  13 13,  at 
Buonconvento,  south  of  Siena,  when  he  was  on  the  point  of 
attacking  King  Robert  of  Naples.  But  the  Florentines  had 
in  the  meantime  replied  to  the  agitations  of  their  exiles  by 
issuing  the  Riforma  of  Baldo  d'Aguglione,  a  decree  of 
the  Signoria  dated  September  2nd,  131 1.  This  freed  a 
number  of  people  from  the  ban  on  the  ground  of  their  being 
good  Guelphs ;  in  the  case  of  more  than  a  thousand,  how- 
ever, the  old  verdict  still  held  good,  and  among  these  was 
Dante. 

The  part  taken  by  Dante  in  these  political  events  reveals 
to  us  his  impetuous  nature.  His  ideas  burst  out  into  flame 
and  dominate  his  whole  soul.  For  him  there  is  no  wavering 
and  no  doubt ;  he  adheres  to  his  political  theories  with  the 
same  enthusiasm  as  to  his  philosophical  and  theological 
doctrines.  He  does  not  think  of  personal  interests.  He  is 
firmly  convinced  that  what  he  desires  is  really  for  the  good 
of  all,  the  only  good,  that  it  is  truth  and  right,  and  that  he 
is  fighting  for  truth  and  right  against  those  criminals  who 
wish  to  obscure  and  to  overthrow  them,  against  the  detest- 
able enemies  of  God  and  His  chosen  one.  Small  wonder, 
therefore,  that  he  desires  their  destruction,  even  though  they 
be  his  own  fellow-citizens. 

According  to  the  idea  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Roman 
Empire  had  by  rights  not  ceased  to  exist.  It  had  been 
renewed  in  the  person  of  Charles  the  Great,  and  then  trans- 
ferred to  the  German  kings  ;  and  men  held  that  it  had  always 
remained  the  same  old  institution,  and  that  it  still  signified 
the  dominion  of  the  Roman  people  over  the  earth.  This 
conception  was  therefore  associated  with  a  patriotic  feeling ; 
Dante,  proud  of  being  himself  descended  from  Roman  blood, 
recognised  in  this  idea  the  glorious  supremacy  of  his  own 
nation,  that  had  been  appointed  by  God  as  regent  of  the 
nations.  Rome,  Italy,  not  Germany,  was  the  centre,  the 
'•garden"  of  the  Empire,  as  it  is  called  in  the  "Com- 
media"j  the  Emperor  himself  lost  his  national  character 
after  the  dignity  of  the  Roman  people  had  been  transferred 
to  him,  or  rather,  had  found  its  expression  in  him.  But 
this  political  ideal  of  Dante  belonged  to  the  past;  in  the 
efforts  of  Frederick  II.,  whom  he  held  in  high  esteem,  he 
recognised  the  last  important  attempt  as  its  realisation,  and 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


281 


in  him  the  last  powerful  Emperor,  and  he  awaited  the 
return  of  such  a  one,  of  a  political  Messiah.  To  this 
patriotic  illusion  he  remained  true  to  the  end,  even  after 
the  failure  of  Henry  VII. 's  expedition  to  Rome.  In  his 
Latin  work,  the  "De  Monarchia,"  which,  as  was  recently 
proved,  belongs  to  the  last  years  of  his  life,  he  gave  another 
exposition  of  his  theories,  which  developed  and  supplemented 
what  he  had  said  in  the  "  Convivio  "  and  in  the  letters. 

This  work  aims  at  being  strictly  scientific ;  the  political 
storms  are  passed,  and  the  author  desires  to  produce  a 
more  convincing  effect  by  the  objectiveness  of  his  exposi- 
tion.   Accordingly,  we  find  the  scholastic  method  employed 
here  more  consistently  even  than  in  Dante's  other  writings. 
The  beginning  is  made  ab  ovo,  from  principles  which  are 
not  open  to  any  doubt,  and  the  inquiry  is  made  to  proceed 
according  to  a  scheme  of  regular  syllogisms,  with  their  pre- 
mises, middle  terms  and  conclusions.    But  the  precision  and 
consistency  of  the  doctrine,  the  lofty  meaning  that  is  ex- 
pressed in  it,  and  the  firm  conviction  that  goes  through  the 
entire  exposition,  do  not  fail  to  arouse  our  keen  interest. 
The  first  book  again  sets  out  to  prove  the  necessity  of  a 
universal  monarchy,  which  alone  could  give  peace  to  man- 
kind, the  condition  necessary  for  the  attainment  of  their 
goal.     The  monarch  dispenses  justice  in  the  most  perfect 
manner ;  for  he  cannot  desire  anything  for  himself,  seeing 
that  he  has  everything,  and  that  his  executive  power  is 
unUmited.     Under  his   rule   the   human   race   enjoy   true 
liberty,  their  desires  being  guided  by  the  intellect.     But 
the  monarch  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  supreme  head.     He 
does  not  perform  every  act  of  government  himself,  for  the 
various  nations  must  be   governed  differently;   under  the 
general  ruler  are  the  individual  princes,  whose  power  de- 
rives  from   him.      And   so    Dante,    with   all   his   national 
patriotism,  with  all  his  intense  love  of  Italy,  and  the  desire 
to  see  it  in  peace  and  harmony,   has  in  his  eye  the  true 
political  unity  of  his  country  only  in  so  far  as  this  is  im- 
plied by  the  unity  of  mankind.      The  divine  selection  of 
the  Roman  people  as  the  representatives  of  this  monarchy 
is  then  demonstrated,  in  the  second  book,  from  the  course 
of  history,  in  which  is  seen  the  finger  of  God,  and  from 
Christ's  words  and  actions.     The  third  book  is  the  most 


282      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

important,  as  it  treats  of  the  relation  between  the  spiritual 
and   secular    power— a   point   that  had   not   as  yet   been 
touched  on  by  Dante.     Here  he  defends   the  Ghibelline 
idea  that  the  Empire  is  independent  of  the  Papacy,  starting 
from   the   memorable    formula   to   which   this   conception 
had   been  reduced  by  the  great  Ghibellines  of  the  past, 
Frederick  IL  and  Pier  della  Vigna,  in  their  polemics  against 
the  Holy  See.     In  this  contest  it  was  a  favourite  plan  to 
employ  Biblical  passages,  which  were  interpreted  in  a  mystic 
spirit,  in  the  place  of  proofs ;  being  variously  explained  they 
were  used  as  weapons  by  both  factions.     Frederick  II.  em- 
ploys the  image  of  the  two  lights,  which  God  created  at  the 
beginning,  and  which   give   their   light,   each   in   its   own 
circuit,   without  interfering  with  each  other.     Dante,   too, 
did  not  hesitate  to  adopt  this  image  in  his  letter  to  the 
princes  and  people  of  Italy,  and  in  the  one  to  the  Florentines, 
at  a  time  when  Pope  Clement  and  the  Emperor  Frederick 
were  at  peace  with  each  other.    But  the  Papal  party  deduced 
from  it  the  supremacy  of  the  priesthood,  from  which  the 
secular  power  is  derived,  even  as  the  light  of  the  moon  from 
the  sun.     Accordingly,  the  author  of  the  "  Monarchia    will 
not  admit  that  this  passage  of  the  Bible  may  be  mystically 
applied  to  the  Pope  and  Emperor,  and  even  if  this  inter- 
pretation were  correct,  he  holds  that  it  would  still  not  have  the 
meaning  in  question.    For  the  moon  derives  from  the  sun  light 
and  power,  not  its  existence ;  in  the  same  way  the  Papacy  il- 
luminates the  Empire  with  the  light  of  grace,  so  that  its  action 
may  be  more  virtuous,  but  does  not  supply  the  essential  ele- 
ments of  its  existence.     In  the  same  way  Dante  rejects  the 
other  arguments  of  his  opponents,  that  of  the  two  swords, 
that  of  the  donation  of  Constantine,  that  of  the  elevation  of 
Charies  the  Great  by  Hadrian,  and  so  on.   The  Church  cannot 
grant  a  power  which  it  does  not  possess  itself,  its  dominion 
is  not  of  this  world,  and  its  earthly  possessions  are  an  abuse, 
in  so  far  as  they  are  not  regarded  as  a  mere  deposit  for 
charitable  gifts  to  the  poor.     Indeed,  the  authority  of  the 
Emperor  proceeds  direct  from  God  quite  as  much  as  that 
of  the  Pope,  and  the  two  institutions,  independent  of  each 
other,  are  intended  to   supplement   and   to  support   each 
other.     Just  as  man  consists  of  a  mortal  and  of  an  immortal 
part,  so,  too,  he  has  a  double  aim  :  on  the  one  hand,  happi- 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND   MINOR  WORKS 


283 


ness  on  earth,  in  the  practice  of  the  moral  and  intellectual 
virtues,  according  to  the  teaching  of  the  philosophers ;  on 
the  other,  the  bliss  of  the  eternal  life,  to  which  he  is  guided 
by  revelation  and  by  the  practice  of  the  theological  virtues. 
However  man,  led  astray  by  desire,  would  shake  off  proper 
guidance  and  err  from  the  right  path,  in  both  these  di- 
rections, had  not  Providence  given  him  a  double  curb  in 
the  shape  of  the  secular  and  spiritual  power.  ^  The  Pope 
guides  the  human  race,  according  to  revelation,  to  eternal 
salvation.  The  Emperor  guides  it  according  to  the  doctrines 
of  philosophy,  to  happiness  on  earth.  He  brings  about 
peace ;  he  is  the  representative  of  God,  executing  His  will, 
and  therefore  directly  appointed  by  Him.  In  the  same  way, 
the  Prince-Electors,  who  choose  him,  are  nothing  but  tools 
in  God's  hand,  the  heralds  of  His  preconcerted  plans.  It  is 
the  same  principle,  then,  which  was  later,  in  the  year  1338, 
solemnly  proclaimed  by  the  assembly  of  electors  at  Rense, 
and  sanctioned  by  Charles  IV.  in  the  Golden  Bull  (1356). 
At  the  same  time,  the  circumstance  that  the  Imperial  power 
is  derived  directly  from  God,  does  not,  according  to  Dante, 
exclude  the  fact  that  the  "  Roman  prince  "  is,  to  a  certain 
extent,  subordinate  to  the  "  Roman  priest,"  in  the  same  way 
that  temporal  happiness  is,  in  a  measure,  only  a  step  towards 
eternal  bliss.  Therefore  Caesar  should  show  to  Peter  the 
same  reverence  that  the  first-born  son  owes  his  father,  so 
that,  illuminated  by  the  ray  of  paternal  grace,  he  may  shed 
a  more  perfect  light  over  the  terrestrial  globe.  We  see  how 
Dante  is  here  of  one  mind  with  Peter  Damian,  and  how,  in 
spite  of  his  Ghibellinism,  he  did  not  cease  to  be  a  devout 
Catholic.  And  he  shows  himself  as  such  in  all  his  writings, 
even  when,  in  the  "  Commedia,"  he  hurls  his  terrible  judg- 
ments against  Boniface  and  Clement,  against  the  Holy  See 
and  the  clergy.  He  was  the  most  inveterate  foe  of  certain 
Popes,  and  of  the  corrupt  priesthood,  never  of  the  Papacy 
and  of  the  institutions  of  the  Church.  But  the  equal  balance 
of  the  secular  and  spiritual  power,  demanded  by  him,  the 
separation  of  the  two  swords,  that  were  to  support  each 
other  in  friendly  union,  for  the  salvation  of  humanity  on 

^  Petrus  de  Vinea,  "Epist.,"  i.  31  :  "ut  homo,  qui  erat  in  duobus 
componentibus  diutius  dissolutus,  duobus  retinaculis  frenaretur,  et  sic 
fieret  pax  orbi  terras  omnibus  excessibus  limitatis, " 


fill 


284     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

earth  and  in  eternity,  this  was  then,  as  in  the  time  of 
Damian,  an  unattainable  ideal,  that  had  always  occupied 
the  thought  of  men  in  the  Middle  Ages,  while,  in  reality, 
each  of  the  two  powers,  in  turn,  continually  sought  to 
oppress  and  to  subjugate  the  other. 

After  Baldo  d'Aguglione's  Riforma  of  the  year  131 1,  the 
Florentines,    having    been    defeated   by   Uguccione   della 
Faggiuola   at   Montecatini   (November    6th,    13 15),   again 
issued  a  decree  against  their  exiles,  which  affected  not  only 
Dante,  but  also  his  sons,  condemning  them  to  death,  and 
permitting  anyone  to  lay  hands  on  their  persons  or  posses- 
sions.     When,    in    the    following   year.    Count  Guido   of 
Battifolle    had    become  podestd,    of  Florence,    a    general 
amnesty  was  declared,  coupled,  however,  with  the  humiliating 
condition,  that  those  returning  home  must  pay  a  money 
fine,  and  be  presented  to  the  holy  patron  of  the  city  in  the 
church  of  S.  Giovanni,  this  being  the  customary  ceremony 
for  pardoned  criminals.    Many  were  glad  to  avail  themselves 
of  this  decree ;  not  so  Dante.     "This,  then,"  he  wrote  to  a 
friend,  who  tried  to  persuade  him,  "  is  the  glorious  manner 
in  which  Dante  Allaghieri  is  called  back  to  his  native  town, 
after  having  endured  exile  for  almost  three  lustres  ?     Is  this 
what  his  innocence,  manifest  to  everyone,  deserved  ?     This, 
his  unceasing  labours,  devoted  to  study  ?     Far  be  from  a 
man  imbued  with  philosophy  the  frivolous  baseness  of  a 
worldly  heart,  that  he  should  endure  to  be  presented  like  a 
prisoner,  after  the  manner  of  men  like  Ciolo  and  other 
infamous  ones  !     Far  be  it  from  a  man  proclaiming  justice, 
that,  after  he  has  endured  insults,  he  should  pay  his  money 
to  those  that  did  him  the  insults,  as  to  benefactors  !     This 
is  not  the  way  to  return  home  to  one's  native  town,  my 
father ;    but  if  some  other  way  were  found  by  you  or  by 
others,  that  would  do  no  injury  to  the  fame  and  to  the 
honour  of  Dante,  I  shall  not  be  slow  to  enter  upon  it.     If 
Florence  cannot  be  reached  by  any  such  way,  then  never 
shall  I  enter  Florence.     How,  then  ?     Shall  I  not  see  every- 
where the  splendour  of  the  sun  and  of  the  stars  ?    Shall  I  not 
everywhere  beneath  the   sky  be  able  to  ponder  over  the 
sweetest  truths,  if  I  do  not  first  deprive  myself  of  glory,  nay, 
make  myself  infamous  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  and  city  of 
Florence  ?     Nor  will  bread  fail  me."    These  words  reveal  to 


DANTE'S  LIFE  AND  MINOR  WORKS 


285 


US,  in  the  most  vivid  manner,  the  lofty  moral  consciousness, 
the  haughty  soul  which,  even  in  the  midst  of  so  much  suffer- 
ing, does  not  sacrifice  its  greatness,  which,  rather  than 
commit  a  low  action,  renounces  its  dearest  hopes.  An  old 
man  before  his  time  through  misfortune,  weary  and  longing 
for  rest,  he,  nevertheless  sets  his  dignity  above  his  return, 
so  eagerly  longed  for,  to  the  "  sweet  nest,"  and  remains  in 
exile. 

The  last  years  of  his  life  were  spent  by  Dante  in  Ravenna, 
at  the  court  of  his  noble  friend  and  patron,  Guido  Novello 
of  Polenta,  the  lord  of  the  town,  and  the  nephew  of  the 
Francesca  da  Rimini  celebrated  in  the  "  Commedia."  If 
the  poet's  letter  to  Guido,  written  from  Venice,  and  dated 
March  30th,  13 14,  is  genuine,  in  which  he  reports  to  the 
prince  the  failure  of  an  embassy  to  the  Venetian  court, 
Dante  repaired  to  Ravenna  soon  after  the  death  of 
Henry  VII.,  and  this  tallies  also  with  Boccaccio's  account. 
In  any  case  we  must  assume  that  he  sojourned  in  that  city 
for  a  number  of  years,  and  that  his  personal  intercourse 
with  Can  Grande  della  Scala,  the  lord  of  Verona,  was 
limited  to  some  short  visits.  Can  Grande  was  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  Ghibelline  princes  of  Italy,  the  chief 
hope  of  the  party.  Henry  VII.  had  made  him  imperial 
vicar  of  Verona,  and  later,  in  the  year  13 18  (December 
1 8th),  he  was,  at  Soncino,  elected  captain  of  the  Ghibelline 
league  of  Lombardy.  Dante,  too,  expected  great  things  of 
him,  as  is  shown  by  the  mysterious,  prophetic  words  of 
Cacciaguida,  in  the  17th  canto  of  the  "Paradiso."  He 
dedicated  to  him  the  third  cantica  of  the  "  Commedia,"  with 
a  letter  which  cannot  have  been  written  later  than  13 18,  as 
he  does  not  give  Can  Grande  the  title  conferred  on  him  at 
Soncino.  At  that  time  Dante  already  knew  him  personally. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1320  he  was  again  in  Verona. 
On  January  20th,  he  publicly  discussed  there,  in  the  chapel 
of  S.  Helena,  a  problem  of  physics,  which  had  been  dis- 
puted previously  in  Mantua  without  any  definite  result,  the 
question  being,  whether  water  anywhere  rose  to  a  greater 
height  than  the  portion  of  the  earth's  surface  that  was  not 
covered  with  water.  His  ardent  longing  for  truth  did  not 
leave  him  any  peace  till  he  had  come  to  some  definite 
result.     His  answer  was  negative,  and  he  demonstrated  his 


286      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

theory  with  the  usual  scholastic  minuteness,  finding  also  the 
reason  why  a  portion  of  the  earth  (of  the  heavy  element) 
raises  itself  above  the  water,  in  opposition  to  the  general 
natural  law,  namely,  in  the  influence  of  the  fixed  stars. 
These  researches  he  afterwards  set  down,  to  prevent  the 
falsification  of  his  results.  . 

Ravenna,  the  peaceful  town  with  its  magic  charm,  and  with 
its  wealth  of  monuments  of  the  first  period  of  Christian  art, 
is  sacred  also  on  account  of  the  memory  of  Dante,  who  found 
there  his  last  refuge.     His  fame  began  to  spread ;  already 
people  began  to  regard  him  with  reverence  and  admiration, 
though  but  few  fully  recognised  his  greatness.     The  gram- 
marian, Giovanni  del  Virgilio,  who  kept  an  open  school  in 
Bologna,  addressed  to  Dante  (not  earlier  than  131 8,  as  is 
proved  by  the  historical  facts  to  which  he  alludes)  a  Latin 
poem,  in  which  he  reproaches  him  for  writing  in  the  despised 
and  common  vulgar  tongue,  thus  casting  pearl  before  swine, 
and  in  which  he  recommends  to  him  important  events  of 
the  day  for  treatment  in  Latin  verse.     He  would  then,  he 
says,  gladly  be  his  herald,  when  he  should  receive  the  laurel 
wreath.     Dante  replied  in  a  Latin  pastoral  poem,  which, 
filled  with  noble  thoughts,  and  the  proud  consciousness  of 
the  great  artist,  puts  down  the  presumptuous   act  of  im- 
pertinence with  fine  irony,  and  is  far  superior  to  anything  in 
the  same  genre  that  was  subsequently  produced  in  Italy. 
The  pastoral  dress  is  here  no  idle  trifling,  but  a  real  artistic 
medium,  employed  in  a  case  where  open  speech  would  have 
had  a  rough  and  unpleasing  efi"ect.     Giovanni,  thereupon, 
likewise  sent  a  poem  in  the  form  of  an  eclogue,  in  which  he 
invited  Dante  to  come  to  Bologna,  an  invitation  which  was 
refused  in  another  eclogue.     In  his  first  reply  to  the  gram- 
marian, Dante  expressed  the  hope  of  still  being  crowned 
one  day  with  the  wreath  on  the  banks  of  the  Arno,  when  he 
should  have  pubUshed  the  "Paradiso,"  and  in  exactly  the 
same  strain  he  wrote  in  the  "Commedia"  itself  ("Par.," 
XXV.  I,  sqq^ : 

If  e'er  it  happen  that  the  Poem  Sacred, 

To  which  both  heaven  and  earth  have  set  their  hand, 

So  that  it  many  a  year  hath  made  me  lean, 

O'ercome  the  cruelty  that  bars  me  out 

From  the  fair  sheepfold,  where  a  lamb  I  slumbered, 


DANTE'S   LIFE  AND   MINOR  WORKS  287 

An  enemy  to  the  wolves  that  war  upon  it, 
With  other  voice  forthwith,  with  other  fleece, 
Poet  will  I  return,  and  at  my  font 
Baptismal  will  I  take  the  laurel  crown. 

Thus  he  promised  himself,  after  so  many  disappointments, 
what  he  had  not  attained  either  by  force  or  by  a  propitia- 
tory attitude,  namely,  that  his  fame  as  a  poet  would  procure 
him  his  return,  when  the  mighty  work  should  be  completed 
before  the  eyes  of  all.  But  he  did  not  live  to  see  the  fulfil- 
ment of  this  wish.  He  died  on  September  14th,  132 1,  at 
the  age  of  fifty-six.  Guido  Novello  had  him  buried  with 
great  honour,  but  being  himself  driven  from  Ravenna  shortly 
after,  he  could  not  erect  such  a  monument  to  him  as  he 
had  intended.  Not  till  many  years  later,  in  1483,  Bernardo 
Bembo,  the  father  of  the  famous  cardinal  Pietro,  had  the 
tomb  adorned  with  the  relief  of  Pietro  Lombardi,  which  is 
still  in  existence.  At  the  order  of  the  cardinal  legate, 
Domenico  Maria  Corsi,  the  entire  chapel  was  restored  in 
1692,  and  in  1780  the  cardinal  legate,  Luigi  Valenti  Gon- 
zaga,  gave  it  the  form  it  now  has,  by  the  side  of  the  old 
church  of  the  Franciscans.  Florence,  which,  like  a  step- 
mother, would  not  endure  the  presence  of  the  poet  within 
its  walls  during  his  Hfetime,  subsequently  repented  and 
made  repeated  but  futile  efforts  to  obtain  his  remains. 
It  had  to  rest  content  with  honouring  him  by  the  erection 
of  a  cenotaph  in  Santa  Croce  (1829).  The  sixth  cen- 
tenary of  Dante's  birth  (1865)  was  made  the  occasion  for 
the  most  magnificent  patriotic  demonstrations  throughout 
the  whole  of  Italy,  and  statues  were  erected  to  him  in  all 
the  important  towns. 

Dante  who  had,  after  the  death  of  Beatrice,  devoted  him- 
self with  such  ardour  to  philosophical  studies,  then  turned 
more  and  more  to  theology,  which,  indeed,  was  in  those 
days  intimately  connected  with  philosophy.  These  studies 
lightened  the  sorrows  of  the  exile ;  the  science  of  revelation 
became  for  a  time  a  second  solace,  a  heavenly  Beatrice.  The 
first  Beatrice  had  been  supplanted  by  the  Donna  gentile,  by 
Philosophy,  which  inspired  his  second  period  of  lyrical 
poetry.  This  form  of  solace  had  then  to  subordinate  itself 
to  another,  to  the  second  Beatrice,  to  theology,  which 
appears  allegorically  under  the  pure  and  cherished  image  of 


288      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

the  love  of  his  youth,  and   inspires  his  great  poem  the 

"  A^Ta'^man  of  such  erudition  as  Dante  is  a  phenomenon 
that  probably  would,  at  all  times,  be  possible  only  in  Italy. 
He  knows  the  classical  poets,  Horace,  Ovid,  Lucan,  Terence, 
Statius,  and  the  one  that  he  considers  the  greatest  of  them 
all  V^^^^        He  reads  Aristotle,  Boethius,  and  Tully,  as  also 
Albertus  Magnus,  Thomas  Aquinas,  and  Bonaventura.     He 
writes  in  the  Latin  and  in  the  vulgar  tongue  concerning  the 
highest  problems,  concerning  the  questions  of  philosophy 
Dolitics  language,  and  poetry-works  so  numerous  and  so 
Wd  and^each  of  theJn  important  and  charactenstic.     He 
was  regarded  as  a  miracle  of  learning  and  of  depth  of  thought 
by  hs  contemporaries  and  by  posterity,  and  truly  he  deserved 
this  fame.     But  we  must  not  endeavour  to  make  of  him  a 
great  reformer  of  thought,  the  founder  of  a  new  era  _   He 
is  a  great  man,  but  the  man  of  his  time.     He  does  not  free 
himself  from  it,  but  is  rooted  in  it,  is  the  most  perfect  and 
thrr^ost  vital  ;xpression  of  the  Middle  Ages,  shares  their 
deajtheir  errors  and  their  prejudices,  but  also  their  power 

Tnd  their  greatness.  That  was  the  -^^-Yl^c^nl^^^^ 
many  strong  characters,  so  many  men  that  were  consistent 
Tall  their  fraits,  the  age  which  allowed  the  great  passions  to 
develop,  that  were  not  yet  shackled  by  the  progress  of  cul- 
ture. Such  is  Dante,  too,  and  thus  we  know  him  from  the 
few  circumstances  of  his  life  that  have  come  down  and 
better,  from  his  works-a  great  character  undaunted  by  mis- 
fortune, firm  in  his  decisions,  and  in  that  which  he  had  re- 
cognised to  be  right  and  true,  a  devout  believer,  and  at  th^ 
same  time  a  man  of  a  susceptible  and  passionate  tempera- 
^nt, Capable   of  the   tenderest   as   of  the   most  violent 

^^  Thf  last  and  the  highest  product  of  Dante's  life  and 
studies,  the  loftiest  poetical  expression  of  the  Italian  Middle 
Ages,  is  the  "  Commedia." 


XI 


"the  commedia" 


'T^HE  first  idea  of  his  great  poem  appears  to  have  occurred 
J-  to  Dante  at  an  early  date.  In  the  first  canzone  of  the 
**  Vita  Nuova  " — "  Donne  che  avete  intelletto  d'amore  " — the 
angels  pray  to  God  that  he  may  restore  Beatrice  to  heaven, 
and  God  replies  : 

Diletti  miei,  or  soflferite  in  pace, 
Che  vostra  speme  sia,  quanto  mi  place, 
La,  ov'e  alcun  che  perder  lei  attende, 
E  che  dira  nell'  Inferno  a'  malnati : 
lo  vidi  la  speranza  de'  beati.  ^ 

This  can  only  mean  that  Dante's  mind  was  already  at 
that  time  occupied  with  the  idea  of  a  poetic  journey  to  the 
other  world.  Then,  again,  at  the  close  of  the  "Vita 
Nuova,"  the  author  tells  how  a  wondrous  vision  appeared 
to  him,  which  made  him  resolve  to  speak  no  more  of 
Beatrice  till  he  should  be  able  to  treat  of  her  more  worthily. 
"And  in  order  to  attain  that  end,  I  study  as  much  as  I 
can,  as  she  truly  knows.  So  that,  if  it  shall  please  Him, 
through  whom  all  things  have  their  being,  that  my  life 
should  last  for  some  years  longer,  I  hope  to  say  of  her  that 
which  never  was  said  of  any  woman.  And  then  may  it 
please  Him,  who  is  Lord  of  grace,  that  my  soul  may  be  able 
to  go  and  behold  the  glory  of  its  mistress."  Thus  he  wrote 
in  the  year  1292,  and  the  fictitious  date  for  the  action  of 
the  "  Commedia  "  is  1300.  Though  the  vision  of  the  "  Vita 
Nuova  "  did  not  tally  with  that  of  the  poem  in  all  its  detail 
yet  it  contained  the  germs  from  which  the  latter  developed. 

*  Oh,  my  loved  ones,  suffer  ye  now  in  peace,  that  your  hope  may,  so 
long  as  it  pleases  me,  be  there,  where  is  one  who  expects  to  lose  it,  and 
who  will  say  to  the  damned  in  Hell :  **  I  saw  the  hope  of  the  blessed." 

I.  U 


290      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Indeed,  the  ideas  of  the  great  poetic  creations  are  of  such 
a  kind,  that  they  do  not  appear  all  of  a  sudden,  to  be  in- 
stantly realised.     They  arise  gradually,  grow  together  with 
the  genius  that  created  them,  and  root  themselves  more  and 
more  deeply  in  his  soul.     They  become  a  part,  nay,  the 
very  object  of  his  inner  life ;    they  become  enlarged  and 
transformed,  till  the  ripe  product  of  this  long  and  hidden 
labour  comes  to  light.      Such,   too,   must  have  been   the 
history  of  the  "  Commedia ;  "  but,  although  we  can  take  tor 
granted  the  various  stages  of  its  development,  we  are  not 
able  actually  to  follow  this  development  step  by  step.     The 
excellent    romancer,    Giovanni    Boccaccio,    who,     in    his 
biography  of  Dante,  tells  us  such  a  number  of  little  anec- 
dotes concerning  the  poet,  has  also  some  on  the  subject  ot 
his  great  work.      According  to  these,  the  first  seven  cantos 
were  written  while  the  author  was  still  in  Florence.     On  his 
condemation  they  were  concealed  in  certain  coffers,   and 
stowed  away  in  a  safe  place,  together  with  other  objects. 
Later  the  papers  were  discovered  and  handed  over  to  the 
poet    Dino  Frescobaldi,    who,    on    seeing   their    contents, 
sent'them  to  the  Marchese  Moroello  Malaspina,  with  whom 
Dante  was  staying  at  the  time.     Whereupon  the  poet,  at  the 
request  of  the  prince,  continued  his  work,  as  may  be  easily 
seen,  according  to  Boccaccio,  from  the  opening  verse  of  the 

8th  canto : 

lo  dico  seguitando  ch'  assai  prima, 

which  expresses  the  resumption  of  the  thread  after  an  inter- 
ruption. It  will  be  safe  to  assume,  however,  that  the  entire 
anecdote  is  due  to  a  mistaken  interpretation  of  this  verse. 
Subsequendy  Boccacio  himself  in  the  Dante  Commentary 
(Lez.  33),  gave  weighty  reasons  for  doubting  its  authen- 
ticity ;  at  any  rate  the  6th  canto,  in  its  present  form,  alludes 
to  the  exile.  Boccaccio  also  tells  us  that  the  poem  was 
begun  in  Latin,  and  even  quotes  two  and  a  half  hexameters 
of  this  first  version  ;  according  to  his  account,  however, 
Dante  finally  changed  his  intention,  and  chose  the  volgare 
instead,  because  his  contemporaries  would  not  have  com- 
prehended that  lofty  style,  which  was  truly  worthy  of  the 
sublimity  of  the  theme— a  reason  which  does  not  tally  very 
well  with  Dante's  ideas  concerning  the  use  of  Italian  as  a 


"THE   COMMEDIA" 


291 


literary  language.  However,  this  whole  report,  and  the  verses 
quoted,  were  probably  taken  by  Boccaccio  from  the  letter  of 
Frate  Ilario,  and  if  this  is  a  forgery,  they  are  forgeries  too. 
Finally,  the  biographer  gives  us  another  wonderful  story 
concerning  the  posthumous  pubHcation  of  the  *'  Paradiso." 
He  says  that  Dante,  on  completing  six  or  eight  cantos,  was 
accustomed  to  send  them  to  Can  Grande  della  Scala,  not 
communicating  them  to  others  till  he  had  read  them.  When 
he  died,  the  last  thirteen  cantos  were  wanting.  There  had 
been  a  long  search  for  them  without  any  results ;  it  was 
generally  thought  that  they  did  not  exist  at  all ;  so  Dante's 
sons,  Jacopo  and  Pietro,  were  already  beginning  to  make 
good  the  deficiency,  when  the  father  appeared  to  the  former 
in  a  dream,  and  showed  him  the  spot  where  they  would  find 
what  they  wanted.  In  the  very  house  which  the  poet  had 
inhabited  during  the  last  days  of  his  life,  hidden  in  a  niche 
in  the  wall,  which  was  unknown  to  anyone,  the  precious 
manuscript  was  actually  found,  covered  with  mould,  owing 
to  the  dampness  of  the  place,  and  almost  destroyed.  How 
much  of  this  is  fiction,  and  how  much  truth,  can  no  longer 
be  distinguished.  The  only  point  that  may  be  regarded  as 
certain  is,  that  the  "Paradiso"  was  not  yet  published  at 
the  time  of  Dante's  death,  whereas  the  "  Inferno "  and 
"  Purgatorio  "  had  become  known  to  the  public,  either  in 
their  entirety  or  by  extracts,  during  his  lifetime,  as  we  learn 
from  contemporary  testimony.  It  is  a  risky  matter  to 
attempt  to  fix  the  date  of  the  composition  of  the  individual 
cantiche  or  cantos,  and  those  who  have  occupied  themselves 
with  this  question  have  come  to  the  most  contrary  results, 
of  which  it  is  scarcely  worth  while  to  take  any  notice. 

According  to  Frate  Ilario,  the  "  Inferno  "  was  dedicated 
to  Uguccione  della  Faggiuola,  and  the  other  two  cantiche 
were  to  be  dedicated  to  Moroello  Malaspina,  and  to  King 
Frederick  III.  of  Sicily.  If  there  is  any  truth  in  this,  we 
must  assume  that  Dante  altered  his  intention  with  regard  to 
the  latter,  who,  indeed,  is  unfavourably  alluded  to  in  various 
passages  of  the  "Purgatorio"  and  "Paradiso,"  as  also  in 
other  works  of  the  poet :  for  the  dedicatory  letter  belong- 
ing to  the  "Paradiso"  is  still  extant,  and  is  addressed  to 
Can  Grande  della  Scala.  In  this  epistle  Dante  says  that,  as 
he  intended  making   him  a   present,  proportionate  to  the 


292      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

friendship  that  bound  him  to  the  prince,  and  as  a  return  for 
the  benefits  he  had  received  from  him,  after  a  long  search 
among  the  things  that  he  had  at  his  disposal,  the  sublime 
cantica  of  the  "  Commedia  "  had  appeared  to  him  the  most 
worthy.  Thereupon,  he  gives  him,  by  way  of  introduction, 
an  explanation  of  the  subject-matter  and  meaning  in  general, 
and  of  the  opening  verses  of  the  ist  canto  in  particular; 
this  is,  of  course,  a  scholastic  explanation,  after  the  manner 
of  the  ''  Convivio,"  but  a  very  valuable  one  for  us,  as  it 
makes  us  acquainted  with  the  poet's  intentions  and  feelings 

with  regard  to  his  work.  .     ,     r      .u^ 

He  calls  the  "  Commedia "  an  opus  doctrinale,  tor  the 
explanation  of  which  six  things  must  be  examined,  the  sub- 
ject, the  author,  the  form,  the  aim,  the  title  of  the  book,  and 
the  class  of  philosophy  to  which  it  belongs. 

The  meaning  of  the  work  is  not  one,  but  mamtold.  vve 
have  a  meaning  given  by  the  letter,  and  another  given  by 
what  the  letter  means ;  and  then  follows  again  the  doctrine 
of  the  fourfold  meaning,  as  in  the  "Convivio;"  but  the  last 
three  classes,  the  allegorical,  moral,  and  anagogic,  he  com- 
prehends, like  Thomas  Aquinas,  a  second  time  under  the 
more  general  category  of  the  second  hidden  meaning,  as 
opposed  to  the  direct  literal  meaning.  Thomas  called  it 
the  spiritual  sense,  while  Dante  again  designated  it  as 
allegorical,  a  term  which,  according  to  its  real  meaning,  fits 
all  the  three  subdivisions.  . 

For  this  reason  the  subject  of  the  work,  too,  is  twofold. 
First,  the  literal  subject— the  condition  of  the  soul  after 
death ;  secondly,  the  allegorical  subject  —  man,  acting 
according  to  his  free-will,  subject  to  a  justice  of  punishment 

and  reward.  ,     ,  •.  u     • 

And  the  whole  poem  is  entitled  Comedy,  because  it  begins 
in  a  terrible  and  hideous  manner  with  Hell,  and  closes  with 
that  which  is  beautiful  and  desirable,  namely  Paradise  :  as, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  work  is  called  a  tragedy,  which,  at  the 
beginning,  is  calm  and  splendid,  but  hideous  and  terrible  at 
the  close.  Moreover,  the  tide  of  Comedy  is  adapted  to  it 
on  account  of  its  style,  which  in  tragedy  is  solemn  and 
sublime,  but  in  this  work  humble  and  unpretending,  being 
the  vulgar  tongue  in  which  even  women  hold  converse. 
The  object  of  the  whole  is  to  free  those  that  live  this 


"THE  COMMEDIA" 


293 


earthly  life  from  a  state  of  misery,  and  to  guide  them  to  a 
state  of  bliss. 

Its  philosophy  is  to  be  classed  as  moral,  for  the  intention 
is  practical,  and  the  speculative  part  is  secondary  to  it. 

Dante's  "  Commedia  "  is,  therefore,  the  representation  of 
a  moral  and  religious  idea  with  a  didactic  purpose,  under  the 
allegorical  form  of  a  vision  of  the  next  world. 

Now,  this  religious  and  moral  idea  of  the  liberation  of  the 
soul  from  earthly  misery  we  have  already  encountered  as  the 
fundamental  conception  of  the  rich  literature  that  preceded 
the  "  Commedia."  The  mystical  philosophers  and  theo- 
logians, such  as  Hugo  of  S.  Victor  and  S.  Bonaventura, 
describe  the  progressive  purging  of  the  soul,  its  elevation 
by  dint  of  contemplation  and  ecstasy  from  the  bonds  of 
sensuality  to  the  highest  good,  "  the  journey  of  the  spirit  to 
God,"  presented  to  us  in  Dante's  own  "  Convivio  "  under  the 
beautiful  image  of  the  pilgrim  seeking  shelter  from  house  to 
house.  The  moralists,  such  as  Bono  Giamboni,  let  Madonna 
la  Filosofia  guide  them  to  the  true  road  of  salvation.  The 
popular  poets,  Fra  Jacopone,  Barsegape,  Bonvesin,  Gia- 
comino,  and  Uguccione  da  Lodi,  cry  out  against  the  vanities 
of  the  world,  and  direct  men's  minds  to  things  eternal,  by 
narrating  legends  and  miracles,  by  depicting  the  Last  Judg- 
ment, and  by  dwelling  on  the  terrors  of  the  abyss  and  the 
joys  of  heaven. 

This  latter  was  the  most  effective,  and,  therefore,  the  most 
popular  way  of  attaining  the  object  of  instruction  and  im- 
provement. The  great  question  was  that  of  the  future  life, 
of  the  true  life,  that  was  to  begin  when  this  first  false  and 
wretched  life  was  at  an  end,  which  was  regarded  merely  as  a 
preparation  for  the  second.  The  bringing  of  this  second  life, 
of  the  torments  of  the  sinners  in  Hell,  and  of  the  joy  of  the 
blessed  in  Paradise,  before  the  eyes  of  the  readers  or  spec- 
tators, served  as  a  guide  to  the  life  on  earth.  The  natural 
form  of  this  literature  was  the  vision,  which  rent  the  veil  of 
the  world  beyond,  and  permitted  the  eyes  of  man  to  pene- 
trate its  secrets.  Christian  legend  told  of  those  who  had 
died  and  been  restored  to  life,  and  who  could,  therefore, 
give  a  detailed  account  of  the  other  world.  Thus  it  was 
said  of  Lazarus,  that  he  had  written  a  book  on  the  punish- 
ments of  Hell,  as  he  had  seen  them  with  his  own  eyes.    The 


I 
1 


I  ! 


. 


A 


294      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Apostle  Paul  was  rapt  to  the  Third  Heaven,  and  in  the 
cosmopolitan  Latin  literature  possessed  by  the  nations  of 
Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages,  there  was  a  legend  concerning 
S.  Paul,  which  was  translated  into  the  vulgar  tongues  at  an 
early  date,  and  to  which  Dante,  too,  alludes  in  the  '*  Inferno  " 
(ii.  28).     Three  great  visions  of  the  world  beyond  belonging 
to  the  twelfth  century,  the  most  important  and  widely  diffused 
of  all,  come  from  Ireland,  namely,  "The  Voyage  of  S.  Brandan 
and  his  monks,  with  the  object  of  finding  the  promised  island 
of  the  saints,"  "  The  Purgatory  of  S.  Patrick,"  and  '*  The 
Vision  of  Tundalus."     As  the  same  theme  was  treated  so 
often,  the  author's  imagination  was  soon  unable  to  find  any 
new  colours,  and  a  typical  manner  came  into  vogue  for 
describing  the  localities,  penalties,  and  rewards,  which  recurs 
again  and  again.     Seas  of  ice,  fire,  and  blood,  in  which  the 
sinners  are  steeped,  demons  and  serpents  that  tear  them  to 
pieces,  the  open  mouth  of  the  abyss  of  Hell,  a  very  narrow 
bridge  which  leads  to  salvation  and  cannot  be  traversed  by 
the  damned  ;  then,  in  Paradise,  walls  of  gold  and  jewels, 
gardens,  chants,  and  streams  of  purest  light.     In  pomt  of 
detail,  too,  we  often  note  similarities  with  the  "  Commedia," 
especially  in  the  "  Vision  of  Tundalus,"  where  we  have  a 
division  of  the  penalties  according  to  the  variety  of  the  sins, 
classical  names  for  the  demons  and  monsters,  as  used,  to  a 
greater  extent,  in  Dante's  ''  Inferno,"  an  angel  as  guide  on  the 
journey,  who  explains  the  things  seen  and  replies  to  theo- 
logical questions  in  the  manner  of  Virgil  and  Beatrice.     But 
all  these  elements,  and  especially  the  guiding  angel,  occur,  m 
isolated  forms,   in  other  legends  too.      The  moral  of  the 
visions  was  also  employed  for  special  purposes.    The  priests 
adopted  this  powerful  agent  for  the  benefit  of  the  Church, 
and  it  gradually  developed  into  a  satire,  avenging  the  wrongs 
of  this  world  by  representing  them  as  being  redressed  in  the 
world  beyond,  where  the  highest  justice  rules  supreme. 

When  the  vision  of  Frate  Alberico,  the  monk  of  Monte- 
cassino,  composed  in  the  twelfth  century,  was  published 
eighty-five  years  ago,  there  was  much  dispute  as  to  whether 
Dante  had  derived  from  it  the  idea  of  his  work.  Probably 
he  did  not  know  it  at  all,  as  it  was  scarcely  known  before  its 
comparatively  recent  publication.  Moreover,  it  is  one  of 
the  driest  and  most  trivial  of  all  these  legends.     If  it  is 


i«n 


"THE  COMMEDIA" 


29s 


absolutely  necessary  to  find  something  like  a  model  for  the 
"  Commedia,"  the  best  claim  to  this  distinction  is  possessed 
by  the  '*  Vision  of  Tundalus,"  which,  with  its  gloomy  and 
terrible  images,  is  the  most  powerful,  at  times  displaying  real 
grandeur.  But  there  is  really  no  necessity  for  assuming  that 
Dante  borrowed  from  any  definite  source ;  his  theme  was  a 
living  one,  and  came  to  him,  like  these  legends,  straight  from 
tradition,  from  the  general  range  of  contemporary  thought. 

In  Dante's  poems,  visions,  as  we  have  seen,  play  an  im- 
portant part.  His  first  sonnet  contained  a  vision,  the 
beautiful  canzone  on  the  presentiment  of  Beatrice's  death 
contained  another,  and  now  his  last  work  was  a  vision,  too. 
But  in  the  legends  we  have  been  discussing,  the  popular 
imagination  took  the  narrative  literally,  believed  that  the 
soul  had,  for  the  time  being,  left  the  body,  and  seen  all  those 
things  in  the  other  world ;  believed,  too,  that  these  things 
actually  were  such  as  had  been  seen  by  the  soul.  In  this 
way,  indeed,  Dante's  work  itself  was  regarded  by  the  people, 
as  we  learn  from  Boccaccio's  anecdote  concerning  the 
Veronese  women,  one  of  whom,  on  seeing  the  poet  pass, 
exclaimed  :  "  Look  at  that  man,  who  goes  to  Hell  and  returns 
from  it  when  it  pleases  him,  and  brings  up  from  it  tidings  of 
those  below,"  whereupon  another  one  replied  :  "  Indeed, 
you  must  be  speaking  the  truth ;  do  you  not  see  how  frizzled 
his  beard  is,  and  how  browned  he  is  by  the  heat  and  vapours 
that  are  down  there  ?  "  Different,  however,  was  the  intention 
of  the  poet,  who  belonged  to  the  most  cultured  classes,  and 
who  was  such  a  scholar.  For  him  there  was  no  true  poetry 
without  a  deeper  meaning,  a  philosophical  and  moral  scope, 
hidden  beneath  the  allegory.  For  him  poetry  is  the  fair 
cloak  of  truth.  It  does  not  suffice  merely  to  represent  a 
thing  :  but  this  must  signify  something  else,  besides.  In  this 
way,  then,  the  "Commedia"  is  linked  with  the  lofty  art 
poetry  of  the  time  and  with  Dante's  earlier  works.  Viewed 
from  this  aspect,  it  is  nothing  but  a  further  development  of 
the  poetical  manner  represented  by  the  philosophical  canzoni 
of  the  "  Convivio."  And  here  we  see  how  Dante  united  in 
himself  the  two  divergent  tendencies,  that  had  hitherto  re- 
mained separate  in  Italian  poetry — the  popular  manner  of 
the  religious  pieces,  and  the  literary  manner  of  the  high 
lyrical  poetry.     He  is  a   follower   of  the   erudite   school, 


i 


t 


296      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

adopting  its  perfected  art  and  its  principles,  and  wishing  to 
realise  its  ideal,  namely,  to  present  a  scientific  theme  in 
allegoric  form.  But  for  the  image  of  which  this  allegory 
consists,  for  the  cloak  and  symbol  of  his  abstract  ideas,  for 
the  "  lofty  fantasy,"  as  he  says,  beneath  which  the  second 
sense  is  to  be  hidden,  for  these  he  selects  the  most  popular 
theme  of  religious  poetry,  the  representation  of  the  other 
world  ;  and  this  was  a  splendid  stroke  of  genius. 

"  In  the  midst  of  the  way  of  our  life,"  that  is,  at  the  age 
of  thirty-five,  Dante  finds  himself,  as  he  says,  in  a  dark 
wood.  Thus,  the  fictitious  date  of  the  vision  is  the  year 
1300,  that  of  the  great  Church  Jubilee  in  Rome,  and,  to  be 
more  precise,  the  Easter  week  of  that  year.  He  does  not 
know  how  he  came  into  the  wood,  for,  at  the  moment  of  his 
losing  the  right  path,  sleep  deprived  him  of  consciousness. 
He  reaches  a  hill,  whose  summit  he  sees  illuminated  by  the 
rays  of  the  sun,  and  wishes  to  ascend,  when  he  encounters 
a  light-footed  panther,  with  spotted  hide.  Several  times  he 
is  on  the  point  of  turning,  but  retains  some  hope  owing  to 
the  gay  aspect  of  the  beast  and  the  hour  of  the  day  and  the 
sweet  season  of  the  year,  it  being  morning  and  springtime. 
But  then  a  raging  lion,  rushing  towards  him,  fills  him  with 
new  terror,  and  a  she-wolf,  "that  with  all  hungerings  seemed 
to  be  laden  in  her  meagreness,"  terrifies  him  so,  that  he 
gives  up  his  first  intention  of  climbing  the  mountain,  and 
hastens  back  into  the  dark  valley.  At  this  moment  Virgil 
appears,  Virgil,  who  was  regarded  by  Dante  as  the  greatest 
poet  of  antiquity,  and  who  was,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  con- 
sidered to  be  more  than  a  poet,  the  sum  of  all  wisdom, 
whose  "  ifCneid,"  according  to  the  allegorical  interpretation 
of  the  time,  really  expressed  the  same  idea  as  the  "Com- 
media,"  namely,  the  raising  of  man  from  the  bonds  of 
sensuality  to  freedom  and  happiness,  who  was  held,  by 
reason  of  his  4th  Eclogue,  to  be  the  prophet  of  Christianity, 
and  who,  finally,  imitating  Homer,  had  in  his  poem  narrated 
the  descent  of  his  hero  to  the  world  below.  It  is  impossible, 
therefore,  to  conceive  a  more  suitable  guide  for  the  great 
spiritual  journey.  And  in  Dante's  hands,  Virgil,  who  was 
at  that  time  generally  regarded  as  a  gloomy  pedant,  again 
became  a  more  sympathetic  figure.  For  Dante  he  is  no 
mere  phantom :    while  studying  his  poem,  his  image  has 


« 


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}i 


297 


become  a  living  thing  to  him.  He  sees  him,  he  loves  him ; 
Virgil  is  his  mild  and  gentle  father  and  teacher.  On  being 
entreated  by  Dante  to  aid  him  against  the  she-wolf,  he  re- 
plies that  it  will  not  be  possible  to  ascend  the  mountain  by 
the  straight  way,  and  he  tells  him  of  the  wickedness  of  the 
she-wolf,  and  of  the  great  evils  she  will  yet  cause,  till  the 
greyhound  shall  come  and  drive  it  back  into  Hell,  whence 
the  envy  of  Satan  sent  it  forth  to  earth.  Therefore  another 
path  must  be  taken,  and  I,  says  Virgil — 

....   I  will  be  thy  guide, 
And  lead  thee  hence  through  the  eternal  place, 
Where  thou  shalt  hear  the  desperate  lamentations, 
Shalt  see  the  ancient  spirits  disconsolate, 
Who  cry  out  each  one  for  the  second  death  ; 
And  thou  shalt  see  those  who  contented  are 
Within  the  fire,  because  they  hope  to  come, 
Whene'er  it  may  be,  to  the  blessed  people  j 
To  whom,  then,  if  thou  wishest  to  ascend, 
A  soul  shall  be  for  that  than  I  more  worthy  ; 
With  her  at  my  departure  I  will  leave  thee ; 
Because  that  Emperor,  who  reigns  above. 
In  that  I  was  rebellious  to  his  law, 
Wills  that  through  me  none  come  into  his  city. 

And  Dante  follows  him,  and  makes  his  journey  down 
through  Hell,  from  circle  to  circle,  as  far  as  the  centre,  and 
up  the  Mountain  of  Purgatory,  from  circle  to  circle,  as  far 
as  the  summit,  the  Earthly  Paradise.  Here,  as  he  had 
announced,  Virgil  leaves  him,  and  in  his  place  appears 
Beatrice,  who,  flying  with  him  from  Heaven  to  Heaven, 
finally  guides  him  to  the  Empyrean,  to  the  sight  of  God. 

Such  is  the  letter  of  the  work ;  its  second  meaning  is  as 
follows.  Dante's  figure  is,  in  the  poem,  the  symbol  of  the 
soul,  of  man  in  general.  He  finds  himself  towards  the 
middle  of  his  life,  when  he  is  entering  on  years  of  maturity, 
in  the  dark  wood  of  this  earthly  existence,  which  is  full  of 
misery,  anxieties,  darkness,  error,  and  sin:  and  he  finds 
himself  in  it  without  knowing  how  he  came  there,  since  the 
years  of  youth  are  like  a  dream,  in  which  man  has,  as  yet, 
no  clear  consciousness  of  his  own  actions,  and  does  not 
clearly  distinguish  what  is  right  and  true.  Now  he  wishes 
to  leave  the  condition  of  misery,  the  wood,  and  ascend  to 
the  fair  mountain,  illuminated  by  the  ray,  that  is,  to  the 


298      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

condition    of    happiness.      But    he  is   opposed   by  three 
animals,  that  is,  the  three  animal  vices  by  which  human 
nature  is  held  in  the  bonds  of  sin,  the  leopard,  or  lust,  the 
lion,  or  pride,  and  the  she-wolf,  or  avarice.     The  first  of 
these,  lust,  by  promising  us  its  joys,  gives  us,  at  any  rate, 
some  hope  of  the  desired  happiness,  is  more  pardonable  as 
the  vice  of  youth  (the  sweet  season  of  the  year),  and  does 
not    make    salvation    altogether    impossible.      Pride  and 
avarice,  on  the  other  hand,  the  vices  of  a  more  advanced 
time  of  life,  drive  us  back  with  greater  violence  into  the 
abyss  of  sin,  and,  above  all,  the  she-wolf,  who  mates  her- 
self with  many  other  animals,  that  is  to  say,  avarice,  or  desire 
\cupidigia\  as  it  is  often  called,  unites  itself  to  many  other 
vices,  "in  other  passages,  too,  notably  in  the  "  De  Monarchia, 
Dante  has  represented  it  as  the  chief  source  of  all  earthly 
ills.     And  so  man  would  not  be  able  to  free  himself  from 
his  sad  condition,  did  not  Virgil,  that  is,  reason,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  the  science  of  reason,  philosophy,  come  to  his 
aid.     But  it  does  not  permit  him  to  ascend  by  the  straight 
way,   which   is   barred:    man   cannot   free    himself    by   a 
momentary  decision,  but  only  by  a  long  and  gradual  inner 
process.     This  is  the  second  circuitous  route   that  Virgil 
makes  Dante  take.     He  shows  him,  in  order  to  convert 
him,  the  punishments  of  Hell,  that  is,  he  lets  him  see  the 
vices  and  sins  in  their  true  form  and  with  their  terrible  con- 
sequences.    For  in  Dante's  Hell  the  old  sins  continue  with- 
out repentance,  as  does  the  stubbornness  against  God,  and 
the  outward  torments  themselves  are  intended  to  symbolise 
the  inner  state  of  corruption  :  thus,  when  we  see  the  lustful 
outwardly  driven  about  without  cessation  by  the  storm,  we  are 
meant  to  see  how  the  storm  of  passion  rages  within ;  so,  too, 
when  the  violent  stand  in  a  marsh  of  blood,  or  the  traitors 
are  numbed  in  a  sea  of  ice.     Descending,  in  this  way,  from 
circle  to  circle,  we  come  to  the  lowest  sin,  to  avarice,  that  was 
able  to  deaden  the  most  sacred  emotions  of  the  heart,  to 
Judas,  who  betrayed  the  Lord  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver,  and 
who  is  crushed  in  one  of  the  terrible  mouths  of  Lucifer. 
And  the  whole  of  this  signifies  that  man,  in  order  to  leave 
the  false  and  to  follow  the  true  road,  must  know  himself 
and  the  misery  and  sin  that  cling  to  him.     Reason  it  is, 
and  philosophy,  that  awaken  this  consciousness  in  his  mind. 


%  M 


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299 


that  permit  him  to  descend  into  the  hell  of  his  own  breast, 
and  then  teaches  him  the  means  by  which  to  escape  from 
it,  namely,  repentance  and  the  practice  of  the  virtues,  difficult 
at  first,  indeed,  but  becoming  more  and  more  easy  and 
pleasant.  This  is  expressed  in  the  Purgatory,  where  the 
ascent  becomes  easier,  in  proportion  as  the  soul  frees  itself 
from  the  dust  of  the  earth.  And  thus  we  reach  the  Earthly 
Paradise,  the  state  of  bliss  that  we  long  for.  But  at  first  it 
is  only  earthly  bliss,  and,  as  soon  as  this  is  attained,  a  new 
horizon  opens  itself,  and  a  new  condition  of  bliss  is  desired, 
that  of  the  eternal  life.  Now  man  can  no  longer  be  guided 
by  philosophy  or  human  reason,  which  is  only  intended  to 
make  him  happy  on  earth,  by  instructing  him  in  the  cardinal 
virtues ;  and  so  Virgil,  the  beloved  father,  disappears.  His 
place  is  taken  by  Beatrice,  namely,  revelation,  and  its  science, 
theology,  who  permits  him  to  ascend  to  Heaven  :  the  divine 
light  alone  is  able,  by  means  of  the  theological  virtues,  to 
raise  us  to  the  bliss  of  eternal  life,  to  the  sight  of  the  highest 
good.  The  end,  the  highest  step,  is  the  vision  of  the  unity 
of  the  three  persons  and  of  the  two  natures,  the  human  and 
divine,  just  in  the  same  way  as  this  constitutes  the  final 
point  of  contemplation  in  Bonaventura.  However,  the 
divine  light  begins  to  have  effect  earlier  than  this ;  indeed, 
it  is,  in  reality,  the  beginning  of  the  entire  process.  The 
divine  light  makes  use  of  the  natural  light,  or  reason,  as  an 
instrument  with  which  to  guide  man  in  real  life.  Reason 
is  subordinate  to  grace,  and  philosophy  to  theology :  they 
are  their  rational  supports.  Grace  does  not  interfere  till  it 
is  needed ;  for  the  things  which  man  can  recognise  by  his 
own  lights,  there  is  no  need  of  revelation.  However, 
although  grace  gives  a  free  rein  to  philosophy  on  earth,  yet 
it  is  grace  that  sets  reason  in  motion.  Man,  in  his  condition 
of  misery,  does  not  heed  the  voice  of  reason  ;  a  ray  of  divine 
grace  is  necessary  in  order  to  imbue  it  with  strength.  The 
natural  light  is  ignited  by  the  light  of  heaven :  Beatrice 
descends  from  the  seats  of  the  blessed,  in  order  to  send 
Virgil. 

Thus  the  moral  and  religious  idea  of  the  age  is  developed 
in  the  "Commedia."  The  condition  of  earthly  happiness 
in  the  practice  of  virtue  appears  as  a  lower  step  for  the  attain- 
ment  of  eternal   happiness :    but  it   is  a  necessary  one. 


I 


300      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Morality  is  the  condition  of  sanctity.    Now,  the  moral  order 
is,  with  Dante,  intimately  connected  with  the  political  order ; 
we  need  only  recall,  from  the  book  "De  Monarchia,"  the 
doctrine  of  the  two  reins  of  which  man,  led  astray  by  desire, 
has  need,  to  enable  him  to  attain  temporal  and  eternal 
happiness,  respectively.     The  one  is  the  Emperor,  the  other 
the  Pope  ("Purg.,"  xvi.   103  sqq.).     For  the  undisturbed 
practice  of  virtue  a  realm  of  peace  and  justice  is  necessary. 
Thus  the  moral  allegory  contains  the  germ  of  a  political 
allegory,  or,  rather,  the  latter  forms  an  inseparable  element 
of  the  former.      According  to  this,  the  dark   wood  also 
signifies  the  state  of  anarchy  reigning  throughout  the  world, 
and  especially  in  Italy;  while  Virgil,  who  had  celebrated 
the  might  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  most  brilliant  manner, 
symbolises  the  Ghibelline   idea   of  the   universal    Roman 
monarchy,  which  alone  can  give  peace  to  the  world,  and  he 
prophesies  a  political  Messiah,  who  shall  carry  out  that  idea, 
and  drive  back  into  Hell  the  she-wolf,  desire,  the  source  of 
all   the   wrong    on    earth.      Dante    calls   him   Greyhound 
(  Veltro),  representing  him  under  the  form  of  the  animal  that 
is  the  natural  enemy  of  the  she-wolf,  and  it  is  unlikely  that 
he  had  any  particular  person  in  view.     The  three  realms  of 
the  other  world  reflect  our  world,  transformed  according  to 
strict  justice  as  understood  by  the  poet.     Boniface  VI IL 
and  Clement  V.  are  punished  among  the  Simonists,  while 
Brutus  and  Cassius  are,  together  with  Judas,  crushed  in  the 
mouths  of  Lucifer,  because  they  endeavour  to  destroy,  in 
the  person  of  Caesar,  the  idea  of  the  Holy  Empire  ;  and  for 
the  noble  Henry,  who  came  to  save  Italy  before  she  was 
ready,  a  seat  and  a  crown  are  waiting,  among  the  blessed  in 
Paradise. 

However,  when  Dante  is  representing  the  destinies  of 
mankind,  he  does  not  omit  personal  traits:  for  the  "Com- 
media  "  gives  us  the  history  of  his  own  life  as  well.  After 
the  death  of  his  beloved,  he  had  lost  himself  in  a  labyrinth 
of  youthful  errors,  and,  after  gradually  freeing  himself  by 
dint  of  philosophical  studies,  he  at  length  found  peace  and 
living  hope  of  eternal  salvation  in  faith  and  theology. 

We  see,  therefore,  how  enormously  wide  is  the  framework 
of  Dante's  poem,  and  how  all  the  elements  of  the  culture  of 
the  time  find  place   in  it— science,    religion,   politics,  the 


"THE  COMMEDIA" 


301 


history  of  his  nation,  and  his  own  personal  experience,  both 
inner  and  outer.  Thus  his  poem  comes  to  be  the  most 
perfect  mirror  of  his  age,  and  his  other  writings,  the  "  Con- 
vivio,"  the  moral  canzoni^  the  "  Monarchia,"  and  even  the 
treatise  on  language,  may  now  be  regarded  as  a  long  series 
of  preparatory  studies  :  they  contain  the  isolated  elements, 
which  re-appear,  combined,  in  the  greater  work. 

However,  it  will  easily  be  recognised  that  everything  in- 
cluded in  this  wide  frame  cannot  be  poetry.  The  "  Corn- 
media  "  is  also  the  most  wonderful  scientific  encyclopaedia 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  men  were,  at  that  time,  dazzled 
almost  more  by  the  great  learning  contained  in  it  than  by 
its  poetical  elements.  The  chronicler,  Giovanni  Villani, 
called  the  "Commedia"  a  treatise,  and  extolled  the  great 
and  subtle,  moral,  physical,  astronomical,  philosophical,  and 
theological  questions  which  were  treated  in  it,  while  the 
anonymous  Florentine  commentator  designated  Dante's 
poem  as  questo  suo  trattato  et  maravigliosa  meditazione. 
Indeed,  Dante  uses  this  expression  himself  in  reference  to 
his  work  in  the  letter  to  Can  Grande ;  he  regards  it  as  an 
opus  doctrinaley  examines,  inter  alia^  its  didactic  purpose  and 
the  class  of  philosophy  to  which  it  belongs,  and  finally  gives 
for  the  first  verses  of  the  "  Paradiso "  a  scholastic  com- 
mentary, in  the  manner  of  the  ''Convivio."  But  however 
lofty  and  sublime  the  abstract  idea  may  be,  however  deep 
the  learning,  these  qualities  do  not  make  a  poet.  If  we 
found  nothing  in  Dante  beyond  this,  he  would  be  a  thinker 
and  a  man  of  science,  and  as  such  he  would  not  be  able  to 
lay  claim  to  a  place  in  the  first  rank ;  for,  in  these  matters, 
he  reproduced  more  than  he  produced.  His  real  great- 
ness is  that  of  the  poet. 

It  is  true  that  Dante  wrote  scientific  poetry  in  the  manner 
of  the  Florentine  school,  and  that  he  himself,  like  Guido 
Cavalcanti,  may  have  imagined  that  he  had  attained  the 
acme  of  artistic  perfection  in  those  pieces  which  were  the 
deepest  and  most  obscure  ;  but  he  was  a  poet,  and  selected 
a  popular  and  living  theme,  which  kindled  his  imagination. 
The  vision  of  the  other  world  was  to  be  only  the  cloak,  the 
symbol ;  but  still  he  believed  in  that  other  world,  and,  in 
depicting  it,  he  gave  himself  entirely  up  to  his  creation, 
clothing  it  not  in  a  nebulous  and  transparent  form,  such  as 


302     HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

might  appear  to  belong  to  symbolism  and  allegory,  but  in  a 
form  which  was  concrete  and  palpable,  awakening  in  the 
breast  of  the  reader  emotions  as  strong  as  those  that  had 
created  it.  His  was  a  fiery  and  passionate  spirit,  and  in  his 
work  we  find  his  most  intimate  interests,  his  scientific  en- 
thusiasm, his  glowing  faith,  his  political  party-hatred,  the 
gentle  reminiscences  of  his  native  town  and  friendships,  and, 
finally,  the  tenderest  of  all  his  feelings,  his  love  for  Beatrice, 
which,  though  it  was  temporarily  obscured,  was  never  en- 
tirely extinguished  in  his  heart,  and  which  now  blossomed 
forth  again,  in  order  to  celebrate  the  apotheosis  of  his 
mistress.  Thus  the  literal  is  victorious  over  the  hidden 
meaning  :  the  direct  exposition  acquires  an  independent 
signification,  which  goes  far  beyond  the  allegory  it  was  in- 
tended to  express. 

Antiquity  already  possessed   the   doctrine  according  to 
which  misdeeds  were  punished  and  merit  rewarded  in  the 
world  beyond.     However,  this  doctrine  was  not  developed  ; 
men's  minds  were  too  much  engrossed  with  this  Ufe  on 
earth,  to  occupy  themselves  much  with  the  life  to  come. 
The  idea  of  the  other  world  remained  vague  and  indefinite, 
and  did  not  receive  the  plastic  form,  which  the  ancients 
were  wont  to  impart  to  their  conceptions.     It  was  the  realm 
of  shades,  concerning  which  there  was  but  Uttle  to  be  said. 
We  hear  of  the  torments  of  Tantalus,  Sisyphus,  Ixion,  and 
Tityus.     But  the  rest  resolves  itself  into  general  data ;  the 
localities  are  but  rapidly  sketched,  nor  are  the  condemned 
souls   classified.      Virgil's   Sybil    gives   to   ^neas   only   a 
general  account  of  those  dwelling  in  the  regions  below, 
without  discriminating  the  sins  and  penalties.     The  Middle 
Ages,  on  the  other  hand,  regarded  the  world  beyond  in  an 
entirely  different  way.     For  them  it  was  the  main  question, 
more  important  even  than  that  of  the  present  life.     The 
imagination  of  men   was  busy   representing   to  itself  the 
future  life,  and  the  sojourn  of  the  souls  and  their  destiny 
had  to  be  depicted  in  more  convincing  colours,  because  a 
moral  purpose  was  intended.     It  is  true  that  we  have  in 
Virgil  a  kind  of  Hell  as  also  a  kind  of  Paradise,  the  Elysian 
Fields,  where  ^neas  meets  his  father  Anchises,  and  where  his 
glorious  descendants  are  shown  him.     We  have  even  a  kind 
of  Purgatory  {''JEn.,"  vi.  12>9,sqq.\  thatis,  a  state  oftemporary 


"THE   COMMEDIA" 


303 


penitence  for  the  good  as  well.  But  all  of  this  is  vague  and 
confused,  and  the  limits  are  hazily  drawn.  In  the  Middle 
Ages,  Hell,  Purgatory,  and  Paradise  are  distinguished,  and 
sharper  boundaries  are  drawn  between  them ;  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church,  which  settles  the  principle  of  gradation  for 
sin  and  merit,  puts  an  end  to  all  confusion  on  this  point. 
The  localities  and  torments  are  minutely  depicted  with 
realistic  colours,  and  we  can  detect  a  tendency  to  distribute 
the  punishments  according  to  the  variety  of  the  sins.  Such 
is  the  method  adopted  in  the  popular  visions.  And  yet, 
how  far  are  these  removed  from  Dante's  conception  !  Here 
an  imagination  of  incomparable  power  and  boldness  seized 
upon  the  vaguely  connected  ideas  of  legendary  traditions, 
and  transformed  them  into  a  pile  of  architecture  so  definite 
and  so  clear,  that  we  have  no  difficulty  in  drawing  the  pre- 
cise plan  of  Dante's  world  beyond,  as,  indeed,  has  often 
been  done. 

Dante's  Hell  is  in  the  form  of  a  funnel,  with  its  mouth  at 
the  centre  of  the  earth,  descending  from  steep  to  steep  in 
nine  gradations,  each  of  which  leaves  space  for  an  edge  or 
circle;  these  circles,  which  are  frequently  subdivided,  are 
the  sojourn  of  the  condemned  souls.  From  circle  to  circle 
the  sin  becomes  blacker  and  the  punishment  more  terrible, 
till  the  centre  of  the  earth  itself  is  reached,  where  dwells 
Lucifer,  the  "  Emperor  of  the  dolorous  realm,"  crushing  the 
three  great  traitors,  Judas,  Brutus,  and  Cassius,  in  his  three 
mouths.  It  has  been  well  said,  that  this  mathematical  form 
deprives  the  abyss  of  Hell  of  much  of  the  horror  associated 
with  the  idea  of  infinity,  and  there  may  be  truth  in  this; 
but  it  is  doubtful  whether  this  is  a  subject  for  regret.  The 
infinite  is  not  a  reality,  but  abstraction  and  negation,  and 
the  impression  it  leaves  is  not  an  image,  but  a  vague,  lyrical 
sensation.  And  so  Dante  did  well  to  sacrifice,  from  the 
outset,  that  of  which,  at  all  events,  his  poetry  was  not 
capable. 

From  Hell  a  very  narrow  path  leads  to  the  other — the 
Western — hemisphere,  which  was,  at  that  time,  held  to  be 
completely  covered  with  water,  and  devoid  of  inhabitants. 
A  solitary  mountain  rises  up  from  the  waves,  the  Mountain 
of  Purgatory,  the  conical  form  of  which  corresponds  to  the 
funnel-like  shape  of  Hell.   Its  upper  portions  are  surrounded 


1) 


304      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

by  seven  circles,  in  which  penance  is  done  for  the  seven 
capital  sins.  From  each  circle  the  soul  issues  freed  from  a 
sin,  and  its  ascent  becomes  more  and  more  easy  till  it 
reaches  the  summit,  the  Earthly  Paradise.  Hitherto  we 
have  not  left  the  earth.  But  round  the  ball  of  the  earth, 
which  was  regarded  as  the  centre  of  the  universe,  revolve 
the  nine  heavenly  spheres  of  the  Ptolemaic  system,  which 
denote  the  graduated  order  of  the  hierarchy  of  the  blessed. 
These  appear  in  the  separate  spheres,  according  to  their 
various  degrees  of  perfection  ;  but  their  true  abode  is  in  the 
Empyrean,  the  tenth  heaven  of  pure  light,  where  they  enjoy 

the  sight  of  God. 

This  architecture  of  the  world  beyond  divides  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  poem  in  the  most  systematic  way.  In  the 
composition  there  is  a  strict  economy,  which  is  apparent  in 
the  symmetrical  arrangement  of  the  outward  form.  Each 
of  the  three  cantiche  consists  of  thirty-three  cantos;  the 
hundred  is  made  up  by  the  introductory  canto,  which  is 
now  reckoned  to  the  "  Inferno."  We  may  note  here  again 
the  propensity  towards  the  symbolism  of  numbers,  which 
we  remarked  in  the  "Vita  Nuova."  To  us  this  appears 
mere  trifling,  but  in  Dante's  eyes  it  added  to  the  solemnity 
of  the  general  impression,  and,  for  a  similar  reason,  he 
made  a  special  point  of  ending  each  of  the  three  cantiche 
with  the  same  ynoiA—stelle.  The  number  of  the  verses  in 
the  separate  cantos  varies  but  little.  The  choice  of  the 
metrical  form  itself  was  for  Dante  a  matter  of  no  slight 
difficulty.  Before  him  there  was  no  narrative  art  poetry, 
barring  the  "Tesoretto,"  with  its  inconvenient  rhyming 
couplets  in  verses  of  seven  syllables.  The  popular  narra- 
tive poetry  employed  stanzas  of  four  long  verses  or  the 
serventese.  The  latter  was  selected  by  Dante,  who  judi- 
ciously and  successfully  moulded  it  to  his  purpose.  For, 
although  the  uninterrupted  concatenation  of  rhymes  was 
best  adapted  to  an  extended  and  continuous  narrative,  yet 
the  old  scheme  of  the  serventese  dragged  too  much  in  its 
movement,  resembling  that  of  the  wandering  minstrels. 
This  fault  was  obviated  by  the  more  artificial  arrangement 
of  the  rhymes  in  terzine. 

The  same  clearness  and   realism   displayed   in  Dante's 
general  plan,    is   found   also   in    the   delineation   of  each 


f  ¥ 


THE   "COMMEDIA 


f) 


30s 


separate  locality.  However,  such  description  is  not  poetry, 
so  long  as  it  lacks  life  and  movement,  so  long  as  it  lacks 
characters :  for  man  and  his  life  are  the  sources  of  poetry, 
which  is  inherent  in  things  only  in  so  far  as  they  derive  it 
from  man.  It  is  not  so  much  the  localities  depicted  that 
supply  the  real  poetry  of  the  "Commedia,"  as  the  souls  that 
dwell  in  them,  whom  Dante  meets  on  his  journey,  and  with 
whom  he  enters  into  more  or  less  lengthy  conversations. 

The  popular  visions  were,  in  their  essence,  descriptions 
of  tortures.  The  sinners  were  placed  in  various  classes  and 
categories,  according  to  their  sins  and  the  corresponding 
punishments.  Tundalus  sees  a  high  mountain,  on  the  one 
side  of  which  are  flames  emitting  a  stench,  on  the  other,  ice 
and  wind,  in  which  the  souls  are  alternately  tormented : 
these  are  the  faithless  ones  and  deceivers,  as  the  guiding 
angel  tells  him.  He  beholds  a  river  of  sulphur,  in  which 
are  other  sinners,  the  proud ;  the  misers  are  swallowed  by 
the  monster  Achorons,  and  so  on.  We  have  here  not  indi- 
viduals and  men,  but  whole  classes  of  sinners,  mere  symbols 
of  the  sin  itself.  And  what  took  place  in  these  old  visions  ? 
"  Cries  and  shouts  and  noise,"  as  Giovanni  Villani  says  of 
the  representation  of  Hell,  which  took  place  at  Florence  in 
the  year  1304.  It  is  thought  that,  save  for  the  noise,  this 
performance  was  merely  pantomime,  and  this  view  is  un- 
doubtedly correct.  What  did  these  "  spirits  in  pain  "  have 
to  say  ?  They  possessed  no  individuality,  and  they  scarcely 
ever  have  even  a  name;  in  the  written  legends,  too,  they 
very  rarely  speak.  They  are  "naked  spirits";  for  them 
nothing  exists  any  longer  but  sin  and  punishment ;  all  else 
has  disappeared. 

Now,  in  this  respect,  we  find  that  the  classical  poets 
adopt  exactly  the  opposite  method.  The  inhabitants  of 
their  lower  world  are  shadows,  it  is  true,  but  still  they  con- 
tinue to  exist,  with  their  concrete  personality,  with  their 
former  feelings  and  passions,  with  the  occupations  they 
pursued  during  their  life  on  earth :  they  are  shades,  but 
shades  of  true  life.  Dante  did  not  know  the  famous  scenes 
of  the  world  below  in  the  "  Odyssey,"  but  he  was  acquainted 
at  least  with  ^neas's  journey  to  Hades,  which  Virgil  derived 
from  Homer.  The  personages  the  hero  encounters  there, 
Palinurus,  Dido,  Deiphobus,  and  Anchises,  speak  and  feel 

I.  X 


306     HISTORY  OF  EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

as  they  did  when  they  still  beheld  the  light  of  the  sun ;  they 
show  all  their  former  sympathy  for  the  things  in  the  world 
above,  and  inquire  after  them  with  curiosity  and  love.     And 
it  is  just  the  same  with  Dante's  figures.     They  are  complete 
personalities,  moved  to  the  other  world,  just  as  they  were  m 
this  life,  with  the  same  ideas  and  sentiments ;  and  m  the 
same  way  as  Virgil's  Dido  still  loves,  and,   still  enraged, 
turns  away  from  the  ungrateful  Trojan,  without  replying  to 
him,  and  as  Deiphobus  shows  himself  still  terribly  mutilated 
by  the  wounds  he  has  received  from  Menelaus,  so,  in  the 
"  Commedia,"  Capaneus  still  threatens  Heaven,  in  Ugolino 
lives    all   his   former    terrible   rage,    Farinata   is  wrathful, 
Francesca  loves  :  they  are  all,  not  universal  types,  but  persons 
and  individuals.     Strictly  speaking,  this  method  of  presenta- 
tion is  scarcely  consistent  with  the  Christian  ideas,  accord- 
ing to  which  all  the  interests  of  this  life  cease  in  the  world 
beyond.     But  this  is  not  the  only  instance  in  which  Dante 
contradicts  the  theologians,  and  out  of  this  contradiction 
arise  his  poetical  figures  and  scenes.     It  is  this  that  Dante 
could  learn  from  his  Virgil ;  in  his  work  he  saw  this  plastic 
definiteness,  this  humanity  of  the  characters,  who  should, 
according  to  the  Christian  point  of  view,  have  been  naked 
spirits.     Dante  rediscovered  man,  who  had  been  lost  to  art 
since  the  days  of  antiquity,  and  who  is  presented  again  for 
the  first  time  in  the  realm  of  the  dead.^ 

Dante's  poem  describes  to  us  a  spiritual  journey.  It 
passes  from  place  to  place,  continually  changing  the  scenery 
and  the  characters  of  the  drama ;  one  single  person  always 
remains,  Dante,  the  traveller  himself.  In  the  "  Commedia  " 
the  greatest  subjectivity  rules  supreme:  the  poet  himself 
never  leaves  the  scene  of  action,  he  is  the  hero  of  the 
action,  the  most  interesting  figure  in  it,  and  all  that  he  sees 
and  learns  awakens  a  living  echo  in  his  emotional  soul.  He 
speaks  with  the  sinners,  the  penitents,  and  saints,  and  in 
these  conversations  he  paints  himself.  But  for  a  journey 
on  so  grand  a  scale  every  conceivable  space  must  needs  be 
limited,  even  that  of  the  longest  poem.  An  enormous  num- 
ber of  persons  appears  and  disappears  in  this  poem.  The 
reader  is  continually  hurried  onwards  from  one  to  the  other : 

^  Nel  regno  de"  morti  si  sente  per  la  prima  yolta  la  vita  nel  mondo 
niodemo  (Francesco  de  Sanctis,  "  Stor.  Lett."  i.  213). 


THE  "COMMEDIA" 


307 


there  is  little  time  for  each,  and  a  few  traits  must  suffice  to 
sketch  his  portrait.  The  great  scenes  are  developed  almost 
casually,  or,  rather,  there  is  no  space  for  their  development,  so 
rapidly  does  the  narrative  progress.  In  this  way  Dante's  "  In- 
ferno," especially,  is  a  very  whirlwind  of  emotions,  passions, 
and  events.  If  it  had  not  been  a  Dante  that  was  creating 
them,  the  poetical  situation  would  have  been  destroyed  and 
the  figures  stifled,  the  work  becoming  dry  and  empty  owing 
to  the  superabundance  of  the  subject-matter.  But  Dante 
possesses  the  art  of  drawing  his  figures  even  in  a  limited 
space.  At  times  they  remain  sketches,  though  sketches 
by  a  master-hand ;  but  frequently  the  few  traits  suffice  to 
bring  before  our  mind  the  entire  and  complete  picture,  with 
all  its  details.  Dante  is  the  great  master  of  poetic  expres- 
sion :  with  his  energetic  style,  he  is  able  to  condense  a  world 
of  ideas  and  feelings  in  a  single  word,  in  an  image  that 
carries  us  away  and  places  us  in  the  midst  of  the  situation. 

At  the  very  beginning  of  the  "  Commedia,"  in  the  midst 
of  the  thorny  allegories,  the  reader  is  fascinated  by  the 
sympathetic  figure  of  Virgil,  and  by  the  gentle  opening  con- 
versation between  him  and  his  charge.  The  fourth  canto 
describes  the  privileged  sojourn  of  the  great  heathens  in 
Limbo,  and  expresses  in  a  most  fascinating  manner  Dante's 
deep  reverence  for  antiquity,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the 
consciousness  he  has  of  his  own  merit,  when  he  tells  how  he 
was  himself  introduced  by  Virgil  into  the  circle  of  the  five 
great  poets  as  a  sixth.  He  felt  that  he  was  destined  to 
revive  an  art  that  had  been  so  long  lost,  and  just  pride  such 
as  this  pleases  us  in  the  case  of  a  man  of  genius.  The 
general  impression  of  this  situation  is  vivid,  the  noble 
gathering,  all  the  heroes  and  sages,  and,  in  their  midst,  their 
great  admirer  and  disciple.  But  the  individual  figures  are 
not  yet  clearly  distinguished ;  the  poet  gives  little  more  than 
a  number  of  names,  rarely  adding  an  epithet  or  a  circum- 
stance that  might  characterise  the  man.  It  is  a  kind  of 
catalogue,  and  not  even  the  usual  et  cetera  of  such  enumera- 
tions is  missing  (iv.  145) : 

lo  non  posso  ritrar  di  tutti  appieno. 

This  same  method,  which  is,  as  it  were,  an  abbreviated 
form  of  true  poetic  exposition,  is  continued  in  the  follow- 


308      HISTORY   OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

ing  canto.  Here  the  poet  has  reached  the  second  circle, 
that  of  the  carnal  sinners,  who  are  driven  to  and  fro  by  a 
raging  tempest.  Among  them  he  sees  Semiramis,  Dido, 
Cleopatra,  Helen,  Achilles,  Paris,  Tristan,  e  piii  di  milk. 
But  these  enumerations  of  Dante's  are  merely  introductory : 
from  the  bands  of  spirits,  forming  the  general  background, 
single  ones  detach  themselves.  Among  these  souls,  two, 
that  are  borne  along  together  by  the  wind,  specially  attract 
his  attention.  They  are  Francesca  of  Rimini  and  her  Paolo, 
who,  burning  for  each  other  with  sinful  love,  were  slain  by 
Gianciotto  Malatesta,  Lord  of  Rimini,  Francesca's  husband, 
and  the  brother  of  Paolo.  Dante  does  not  know  them,  but 
the  pair,  united  even  in  the  torments  of  Hell,  arouse  his 
sympathy  ;  he  would  fain  speak  with  them,  and  obtains  his 
guide's  permission.  This  is  one  of  the  passages  in  which 
the  special  character  of  Dante's  poetry  is  best  revealed.  Many 
persons,  nowadays,  who  have  heard  the  famous  Francesca 
da  Rimini  so  much  discussed,  may  perhaps  feel  somewhat 
disappointed  when  they  open  the  book.  There  are  scarcely 
seventy  verses,  which  are  quickly  read,  and  which  leave  but 
little  impression  on  the  ordinary  and  superficial  reader.  A 
sensitive  mind  is  needed  for  the  appreciation  of  Dante's 
condensed  poetry.  It  is  to  be  found  in  each  small  detail, 
in  every  syllable — nothing  is  empty  and  devoid  of  meaning  : 
but   much   remains   dumb   to   him   who   hurries  over  the 

verses. 

Acting  on  Virgil's  advice,  Dante  entreats  the  two  souls 
by  the  love  that  binds  them  together,  and  they  follow  the 
sympathetic  call — 

As  turtle  doves,  called  onward  by  desire, 
With  open  and  steady  wings  to  the  sweet  nest 
Fly  through  the  air  by  their  volition  borne. 

This  gentle  image,  taken  from  the  "  ^neid,"  but  imbued 
by  Dante  with  a  more  intimate  spirit,  serves  as  a  preparation 
for  the  moving  scene.  This  very  trait  of  their  immediately 
following  the  call  that  is  directed  to  their  love,  and  even 
more  so  the  first  words  of  the  reply,  characterise  the  two 
figures.  Francesca's  is  a  noble  and  tender  soul,  and  the 
sympathy  shown  her  by  a  stranger  moves  her  deeply  in  her 
pain.     In  her  gratitude,  she  would  fain  pray  for  him  to  the 


THE   "COMMEDIA" 


309 


\ 


King  of  the  Universe ;  but  she  is  in  Hell,  and  her  entreaties 
are  not  heard  in  Heaven.  She  will  at  least  fulfil  his  wish  by 
answering  him.  She  tells  him  who  they  are,  by  indicating 
their  native  place,  and  above  all  by  speaking  of  that  which 
has  brought  them  down  there,  their  unexampled  and  bound- 
less love.  In  seven  lines  is  contained  the  whole  history  of 
their  feelings.  Each  terzina  begins  with  the  word  "love," 
each  one  describes  to  us  the  growth  of  its  power,  and  shows 
us  how  it  arises  in  the  man's  heart  on  beholding  the  beautiful 
woman,  how  it  is  kindled  in  the  heart  of  the  woman  when 
she  sees  herself  loved,  how  it  becomes  their  common  fate 
and  hurries  them  to  one  common  doom.  When  Dante  has 
heard  this,  he  can  no  longer  doubt  who  the  two  are,  whose 
destiny  has  been  so  powerfully  affected  by  love,  and  his 
second  question  begins  with  the  name  Francesca,  although 
she  has  not  told  it  him.  But  first  he  relapses  into  a  deep 
silence,  and  bows  his  head,  so  that  his  guide  asks  him  of 
what  he  is  thinking.  The  few  words  he  has  heard  enable 
him  to  imagine  all  the  feelings,  joys  and  sorrows  they  con- 
ceal, and  he  turns  to  her  again  with  a  deeper  interest : 

Thine  agonies,  Francesca, 
Sad  and  compassionate  to  weeping  make  me. 
But  tell  me,  at  the  time  of  those  sweet  sighs, 
By  what  and  in  what  manner  Love  conceded, 
That  you  should  know  your  dubious  desires  ? 

Dante  puts  this  question  of  his  in  the  tenderest  manner,  for 
it  would  be  intrusive  if  prompted  by  curiosity  and  not  by 
sympathy.  But  Francesca  at  once  detects  the  latter  quality, 
and  therefore  she  will  answer,  although  the  recollection 
gives  her  pain  : 

Farb  come  colui  che  piange  e  dice.^ 

This  passage  has  often  been  compared  with  that  other 
one,  apparently  so  similar,  at  the  beginning  of  Ugolino's 
narrative  ("Inf."  xxxiii.  4),  in  order  to  show  the  con- 
summate mastery  with  which  Dante  was  able  to  depict  his 
various  characters,  even  outwardly,  by  the  sound  of  the 
verses.  Here  in  Francesca's  speech  all  is  soft  and  har- 
monious, in  Ugolino's  all  is  rough  and  hard;  in  the  one 

*  I  will  do  even  as  he  who  weeps  and  speaks. 


•I 


310      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

all  is  love,  in  the  other  rage  and  fury.  It  gives  Ugolino 
pain,  as  it  did  Francesca,  to  speak  of  the  past ;  but  Fran- 
cesca  speaks  because  she  notes  Dante's  sympathy,  Ugolino 
because  he  desires  to  revenge  himself  on  his  enemy. 
Francesca  scarcely  speaks  of  her  enemy,  only  distantly,  and 
in  the  most  moving  manner  she  alludes  to  her  violent 
death :  Caina  awaits  him,  who  killed  her  and  Paolo— that 
is  all.  She  does  not  even  name  him,  she  does  not  think 
of  him  :  she  does  not  hate,  but  loves.  She  tells  of  her  love, 
of  her  joys  and  of  the  happy  time,  that  was  happy  though 
sinful.  One  day  they  read  of  Lancelot's  love ;  they  were 
alone  and  without  suspicion.  Their  eyes  met  several  times, 
and  their  cheeks  coloured — 

But  one  point  only  was  it  that  o'ercame  us. 

The  passion  is  there ;  but  it  is  still  slumbering,  concealed  in 
the  heart,  and  on  beholding  itself,  as  it  were,  in  a  mirror,  it 
recognises  and  becomes  conscious  of  itself,  and  bursts  forth 
suddenly  in  a  mighty  flame.  When  they  read  how  the 
queen  was  kissed  by  Lancelot,  Paolo  kissed  her  mouth,  all 
trembling — 

That  day  no  farther  did  we  read  therein. 

While  she  is  speaking  these  words,  the  other  soul,  Paolo, 
silently  accompanies  her  words  with  tears.  The  poet  lets 
her  alone  speak :  for  the  lament  of  unhappy  love  is  more 
touching  from  the  lips  of  a  woman.  The  short  narrative 
ends  with  the  catastrophe  of  the  passion.  Free  play  is  left 
to  the  excited  imagination,  and  Dante,  a  passionate  nature, 
who  has  experienced  the  tempests  of  the  heart,  is  so  full  of 
sympathy  for  them,  that  he  sinks  to  the  ground,  "  as  a  dead 
body  falls." 

And  this  scene  must  be  imagined  in  the  surroundings  of 
Hell,  in  the  midst  of  the  darkness  and  of  the  raging  and 
howling  tempest — a  contrast  that  increases  its  power.  It  is 
the  romance  of  love  in  its  greatest  simplicity,  but  combined 
with  all  the  emotional  elements  that  make  a  deep  impression 
on  the  mind.  The  dominant  feeling,  that  of  boundless 
love,  is  expressed  in  traits  that  are  rapid,  but  full  of  sig- 
nificance. By  their  love  are  the  two  spirits  conjured,  and 
they  come.     Their  love  continues  undiminished  even  in  the 


i 


THE  "COMMEDIA 


j> 


311 


midst  of  such  agony— "it  does  not  yet  desert  me,"  says 
Francesca— and  together  they  are  carried  along  by  the  wind, 
united  in  punishment,  as  they  were  in  happiness.  Their 
love  was  their  sin.  For  -him  who  is  condemned,  the  sm 
lasts  to  all  eternity,  and  so  their  love  is  eternal  It  is  their 
guilt,  but  there  is  consolation  in  ijt,  too — 

Questi,  che  mai  da  me  non  fia  diviso.^ 

• 

In  the  sixth  canto  of  the  "  Inferno,"  among  the  gluttons 
who  are  tortured  in  the  third  circle  of  Hell,  Dante  meets  the 
Florentine  Ciacco,  who '  prophesies  to  him  the  sad  destiny 
of  his  native  town.    In  the  seventh  canto,  the  two  wanderers 
are  with  the  avaricious  and  prodigal  in  the  fourth  circle,  and 
here  Virgil  addresses  to  Dante  the  famous  lines  describing 
Fortune,  an  angelic  creature  like  the  others,  and  set  by  God 
among  men,  in  order  to  preserve  equality  among  them,  and 
to  let  worldly  passions  pass  from  one  hand  to  another,  as 
justice  demands.     In  the  fifth  circle,  as  they  are  crossing 
the  Stygian  marsh  containing  the  wrathful,  in  Phlegyas'  boat, 
the  meeting  with  Filippo  Argenti  takes  place.     This  is  riar- 
rated  with  bitter  hatred  and  thirst  for  vengeance,  pointing 
not  merely  to  moral  indignation  on  the  part  of  the  poet,  but 
to  personal  enmity.    In  order  to  enable  Dante  and  Virgil  to 
enter  the  city  of  Dis,  which  occupies  the  lower  portion  of 
Hell  from  the  sixth  circle,  the  "messenger  of  Heaven "  {del 
del  Messo)  appears  in  the  ninth  canto;  this  is  a  poetical 
creation  of  great  distinction,  a  figure  biblical  in  its  grandeur, 
introduced  from  the  outset  with  the  sublimest  images.     The 
angel  is  girt  with  mystery,  which  is  expressed  by  Virgil's 
hints  at  the  end  of  the  eighth  canto  and  by  the  interrupted 
words  at  the  beginning  of  the  ninth.     Virgil  does  not  say 
who  is  coming,  nor  how  he  is  coming,  nor  who  has  sent  him. 
All  these  are  circumstances  which  we  do  not  learn  j  he  who 
is  coming  is  such  a  one  as  will  open  the  gate  of  the  city,  it  is 
some  one  that  will  bring  aid.     This  mystery  excites  the  im- 
agination, and  we  remain  in  suspense ;  w^e  expect  something 
extraordinary  and  are  not  disappointed.    Now  he  comes.    His 
steps  are  accompanied  by  a  boisterous  sound,  terrible  as  the 
roar  of  a  tempest.    The  banks  of  the  marsh  tremble ;  before 

^  This  one,  who  ne'er  from  me  shall  be  divided. 


312      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

the  angel's  heavenly  purity,  before  his  awe-inspiring  majesty, 
everything  flees  that  is  not  pure.     The  damned  souls  hide 
themselves   like  frogs  before  a  snake ;  the  sinner  cannot 
endure  the  sight  of  what  is  heavenly.     And  he  goes  onward, 
the  misery  and  hideousness  of  the  abyss  do  not  affect  him, 
he  remains  pure  and  radiant  in  that  darkness,  he  does  not 
defile  himself  in  that  filth.     Dante,  on  seeing  him,  is  seized 
with  an  unwonted  feeling.    He  turns  to  Virgil  and  would  fain 
speak  and  question  him,  but  is  made  by  him  to  keep  silence 
and  bow  down.     This  is  the  time  not  for  curiosity,  but  for 
reverence ;  one  must  be  silent  and  devout,  humbly  receiving 
the  benefit  of  Divine  grace.     When  the  devils  behold  the 
messenger  of  Heaven,  they  resist  no  longer  ;  his  staff  suffices 
to  open  the  gates.     He  reproves  the  stubborn  ones,  and 
turns   back  without  speaking  to  the  poets.      This  sudden 
turning  back  is  a  movement  of  incomparable  impressiveness. 
His  office  is  at  an  end,  the  gate  stands  open  and  he  tarries 
no  longer ;  the  things  that  surround  him  do  not  attract  his 
attention,  and  he  turns  his  back  without  casting  a  look,  not 
because   he  despises  those  whom   he  has   protected,   but 
because  his  mind  is  wholly  taken  up  with  other  matters.    As 
mysteriously  as  he  came,  the  messenger  of  Heaven  disap- 
pears ;  but  the  effect  of  his  presence  remains.    Before,  there 
was  excitement,  fighting,  and  threats.     He  comes,  and  im- 
mediately all  opposition  is  at  an  end ;  he  goes,  and  peace 
reigns  supreme,  and  calmly  the  two  poets  enter  the  flaming 
city.    Each  action  shows  us  the  greatness  of  this  figure  ;  but 
the  chief  effect  is  produced  by  the  contrast  between  the 
purity  and  majesty  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  the 
lowliness  and  vileness  of  the  place,  when  he  comes,  inspiring 
terror  over  the  turbid  waters,  traversing  the  hideous  marsh 
dryshod,  with  the  movement  of  his  hand  keeping  the  thick 
air  from  his  countenance,  accustomed  as  it  is  to  the  light  of 
the  spheres,  and  then  returning  full  of  majesty  along  the 
"  dirty  road."     Here  we  have  the  appearance  of  Heaven  in 
the  midst  of  Hell — a  situation  unparalleled  in  its  sublimity, 
such  as,  since  the  Bible,  only  Dante's  powerful  imagination 
has  been  able  to  conceive. 

In  the  tenth  canto  two  powerful  scenes  are  intertwined. 
Here  Dante  finds,  among  the  heretics  who  lie  in  fiery  graves, 
Farinata  degli  Uberti,  the  head  of  the  Ghibellines  and  a 


THE  "COMMEDIA" 


313 


I 


political  opponent  of  his  ancestors,  who  were  driven  from 
Florence  by  him.  While  they  speak  together  their  anger  is 
kindled,  and  in  their  rapid  dialogue  is  aroused  all  the  old 
hatred  of  the  parties  that  rent  asunder  the  cities  of  Italy. 
But  while  Farinata,  after  a  cutting  assertion  of  the  other 
speaker,  is  filled  with  sorrow  at  the  triumph  of  his  enemies 
and  relapses  into  silence  for  a  time,  though  his  subsequent 
reply  is  no  less  bitter,  the  shadow  of  Guido  Cavalcanti's 
father,  Cavalcante,  rises  up.  He  recognises  Dante,  and  is 
surprised  not  to  see  his  own  son  with  him.  Then,  as  an 
ambiguous  word  in  the  poet's  speech  has  made  him  believe 
that  his  son  is  dead,  he  sinks  back,  overcome  by  grief: 

Supin  ricadde  e  piu  non  parve  fuora,' 

a  verse  that  depicts  in  a  wonderful  manner  the  emotion  of 
the  father,  as  also  the  proud  and  passionate  spirit  of  the 
great  Ghibelline,  and  his  long  and  silent  reflections,  during 
which  he  has  heeded  nothing  that  is  going  on  around  him, 
so  that  he  begins  again  as  though  there  had  been  no  lapse 
of  time.  This  period  of  silence  another  would  have  left  un- 
occupied, or  filled  with  indifferent  matter.  Not  so  Dante : 
between  his  own  concluding  word  and  the  word  of  Farinata 
that  takes  up  the  dialogue  again,  he  intercalates  the  whole 
deep  story  of  fatherly  grief.  This  shows  us  again  the  con- 
densed power  of  Dante's  poetry  :  in  this  passage  of  a  hundred 
verses  such  a  variety  of  emotions  assail  our  mind  in  turn, 
that  time  and  calm  reflection  are  essential  if  we  would 
receive  a  clear  and  complete  impression  of  the  whole.  And 
yet,  if  we  try  to  imagine  something  of  less  weight,  between 
the  two  portions  of  the  conversation  with  Farinata,  than  the 
episode  of  Cavalcanti,  we  shall  find  that  the  passage  would 
have  lost  considerably  in  effect.  The  more  significant  and 
touching  the  traits  that  precede,  the  more  expressive  is  the 
impassibility  of  that  magnanimous  man,  who  was  occupied 
only  with  his  own  grief,  and 

did  not  his  aspect  change, 
Neither  his  neck  did  move,  nor  bent  his  side. 

The  meetings  with  Pier  della  Vigna  and  with  Brunette 

....  Supine 
He  fell  again,  and  forth  appeared  no  more. 


i 


fi 


314      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Latini  in  the  seventh  circle,  that  of  the  violent,  I  shall 
mention  only  in  passing ;  on  the  other  hand,  I  shall  examine 
more  closely  Dante's  originality  from  another  point  of  view. 
The  eighth  circle  of  Hell,  that  of  the  deceivers,  which  con- 
sists of  ten  concentric  valleys,  spanned  by  rocky  arches  in 
the  manner  of  bridges,  was  named  by  the  poet  Malebolge 
(*'  Evil  Pouches  ") — a  sarcastic  expression  instead  of  "  sorrow- 
ful pits."  And  these  pits  are  indeed  very  sorrowful ;  they 
are  the  place  for  the  most  odious  crimes,  the  place  for 
mockery  and  invective.  Higher  up  Dante  had,  it  is  true, 
also  been  bitter  and  sarcastic,  when  he  was  standing  by 
Farinata,  and  his  political  passions  and  wounded  family 
pride  were  aroused.  In  spite  of  this,  however,  he  remained 
full  of  reverence  and  admiration  for  that  high-souled  man, 
before  whom  Hell  itself  appears  to  sink  down  when  he  raises 
himself  from  his  tomb.  But  now  he  no  longer  feels  any 
reverence :  his  satire  becomes  terrible  and  relentless,  being 
directed  against  things  which  he  detests  most. 

The  other  world,  set  against  this  world  of  ours,  generally 
ends  by  criticising  and  satirising  it,  as  was  usual  even  in  the 
earlier  legends ;  but  the  true  place  for  the  satirical  element 
are  the  lower  regions  of  Hell.     The  sins  that  are  punished 
in  the  upper  circles  may  be  combined  with  magnanimity 
and  with  tenderness  of  soul.     Dante  is  compelled,  by  moral 
conviction,  to  place  in  Hell  Francesca,  Farinata,  Cavalcante, 
Pier   della   Vigna,   and  even  his  fatherly  friend   Brunetto 
Latini.     But  he  does  not  reprove  and  mock  them ;  on  the 
contrary,  he  feels  deeply  for  them  in  their  torments,  loves 
and  admires  them,  and  immortalises  their  sympathetic  figures 
in  the  episodes  depicted.     He  does  not  conceal  or  excuse 
their  sin ;  but  this  sin  is  of  such  a  kind  that  it  does  not 
touch   their   character.     Other  vices,  on   the  other  hand, 
according  to  Dante,  affect  the  entire  personaHty  of  the  man, 
destroy  human  nature  itself,  and  but  rarely  leave  room  for 
nobler  qualities.     These  sinners  are,   therefore,  detestable 
beings ;  their  case  must  be  met  not  by  compassion,  but  by 
relentless  justice:  here  mockery  and  contempt  are  called 
for.     With  these  the  last  two  circles  are  almost  entirely 
filled.     We  say  "  almost "  advisedly :  for  even  here  there  is 
not  an  utter  lack  of  greatness  in  all  the  figures,  and  we 
cannot  but  admire  the  bold  Ulysses,  and  sympathise  with 


THE   "COMMEDIA" 


315 


Ugolino,  while  he  fills  us  with  terror.  Poetry  revolts  against 
the  systematic  strictness  of  logic.  It  is  not  a  religious  and 
philosophical  treatise  with  which  we  are  dealing,  and  the 
vivid  imagination  of  the  poet,  in  these  portions  of  the  poem 
as  always,  traverses  the  entire  gamut  of  human  feelings. 

Dante's  satirical  power  is  at  its  height  when  he  encounters 
Pope  Nicholas  III.  among  the  simonists  ("  Inf."  xix.).  The 
Pope  is  in  a  pit  in  the  third  bolgia,  his  head  stuck  in  fore- 
most, and  his  burning  soles  jutting  out.  Whilst  he  painfully 
moves  his  legs  to  and  fro  in  the  air,  he  has  to  listen  to 
Dante's  words  of  reproof  and  mockery : 

Whoe'er  thou  art,  that  standest  upside  down, 
O  doleful  soul,  implanted  like  a  stake  .  .  . 

With  these  expressions  of  contempt  the  poet  begins  his 
discourse.  He  then  compares  him  with  a  murderer,  who  is 
buried  alive,  and  who,  in  order  to  put  off  his  death  for  a 
short  while,  calls  again  for  the  confessor ;  the  murderer  is 
the  Pope,  and  the  confessor,  Dante.  But  the  bitterest 
mockery  the  poet  placed  in  the  sinner's  own  mouth,  when 
he  confesses  in  such  a  way  that  his  words  become  a  satire 
against  himself : 

Know  that  I  vested  was  with  the  great  mantle, 

he  begins ;  but  scarcely  is  there  time  for  reverence  for  the 

highest  dignity  on  earth  to  be  awakened,  when  he  adds  how 

he  defiled  it,  thus  changing  the  nascent  feeling  to  one  of 

loathing : 

And  truly  was  I  son  of  the  She-bear, 

So  eager  to  advance  the  cubs,  that  wealth 

Above,  and  here  myself,  I  pocketed. 

This  ironical  allusion  to  the  Pope's  family  name  (Orsini), 
and  the  play  on  the  word  borsa,  which,  in  its  rapidity,  has  a 
sharp  point,  become  all  the  most  effective  from  the  fact 
that  he  has  to  utter  the  words  himself.  Nicholas  III.  was 
dead  in  the  year  of  the  vision ;  but  two  other  Popes  were 
still  alive,  whom  Dante  hated  no  less,  perhaps  even  more, 
because  they  were  his  political  enemies,  the  opponents  or 
impediments  of  his  poHtical  ideal — Boniface  VIII.  and 
Clement  V.     By  means  of  one  of  those  astounding  inven- 


3l6      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

tions,  so  many  of  which  sprang  from  his  fertile  mind,  he 
intertwined  with  this  satire  against  Nicholas  a  satire  against 
the  other  two.  The  simoniacal  Popes  will  all  come  into  the 
same  pit,  and,  coming  one  after  the  other,  will  force  each 
other  lower  down.  In  this  way  it  happens  that  Nicholas 
is  expecting  the  one  and  prophesies  the  other's  coming, 
whereby  Dante  again  has  the  advantage  of  placing  his  sar- 
casms in  another's  mouth,  thus  adding  to  their  power  and 
effect.  It  is  a  worthy  predecessor  of  theirs  that  speaks  and 
foretells  their  shame.  Pope  Nicholas  hears  voices  at  the 
edge  of  the  pit,  and  he  immediately  thinks  that  it  must  be 
Boniface  coming  to  take  his  place  and  to  push  him  down. 
This  eager  expectation  of  the  other  converts  the  prophecy 
into  reality,  and  we  already  see  Pope  Boniface  VIII.,  too, 
head  foremost  in  the  pit,  moving  his  flaming  soles  about  in 
the  air.  In  this  way  Dante  knew  how  to  avenge  himself 
and  to  deal  out  punishment,  when  he  considered  it  just. 
But  after  the  mockery  he  rises  to  a  feeling  of  moral  earnest- 
ness. It  is  no  longer  irony,  but  genuine  pain  that  rings 
from  his  words:  "Ah,  Constantine  !  of  how  much  ill  was 
mother  .  .  .  ,"  and  this  holy  wrath  pleases  his  good  guide, 
Virgil,  who  listens  with  approval  to  his  disciple's  words,  and 
then  takes  him  into  his  arms,  raises  him  to  his  breast  and 
carries  him  to  the  top  of  the  next  bridge.  That  is  just  the 
reason  why  Dante's  satire  is  so  magnificent,  because  of  the 
earnestness  on  which  it  is  based.  He  is  so  bold,  because  he 
feels  himself  strong  in  faith.  He  does  not  attack  religion 
and  ecclesiastical  institutions ;  on  the  contrary,  he  defends 
the  Church  against  its  false  shepherds.  He  reproves  the 
bad  Popes,  but  bows  reverently  before  the  Papacy,  and 
deeply  feels  the  shame  brought  on  it  by  Philip  the  Fair, 
although  the  direct  sufferer  was  one  whom  he  placed  in 
Hell. 

From  satire  there  naturally  develops  a  comic  element, 
which  had  its  place  in  the  old  legends  and  in  the  French 
mysteries,  where,  after  the  gradual  elimination  of  the  moral 
intention,  it  gave  birth  to  farce.  With  Dante  laughter  is 
still  essentially  an  agent  for  punishment  and  correction,  as 
in  the  former  visions  of  Hell.  The  place  for  this  comic 
element  is  the  fifth  bolgia^  where  the  peculators  are  im- 
mersed in  a  sea  of  pitch.     Here  we  have  the  scenes  of  the 


THE  "COMMEDIA" 


317 


shade  of  the  man  of  Lucca,  which  the  devils  are  dragging 
along  and  throwing  into  the  lake,  and  of  Giampolo  of 
Navarra,  who  deceives  the  devils  themselves,  whereupon 
they  become  entangled  in  a  curious  brawl  and  fall  into  the 
pitch  ("Inf."  xxi.,  xxii.).  These  are  humorous  descrip- 
tions, such  as  we  might  expect  at  that  time,  rough  and 
primitive  in  the  expressions  and  images,  now  and  again 
recalling  the  infernal  kitchen  of  Fra  Giacomino ;  but  they 
are  of  a  kind  to  become  popular,  and,  in  point  of  fact,  the 
grotesque  figures  of  the  devils,  especially,  did  become 
popular,  their  names,  Barbariccia,  Libicocco,  etc.,  occurring 
frequently  in  later  Italian  literature. 

In  the  seventh  bolgia  (c.  xxv.)  occurs  the  description  of 
the  transformation  of  men  into  serpents,  and  serpents  into 
men,  which  has  always  been  admired  as  an  extraordinary 
feat  of  the  imagination.  And  such,  indeed,  it  is.  At  the 
same  time  it  appears  to  me  that  the  effect  does  not  corre- 
spond entirely  to  the  means  employed.  This  description  is 
too  minute  to  be  fantastic,  and  the  imagination  demands 
greater  freedom  of  treatment  in  the  case  of  matters  that  en- 
tirely transcend  the  limits  of  the  natural ;  being  shackled  by 
so  many  details,  it  remains  inactive  and  does  not  really 
represent  the  marvel  to  itself,  with  the  result  that  the  effect 
produced  is  grotesque  rather  than  fantastic,  as  is  the  case 
here.  I  do  not  mean  that  even  such  an  effect  is  wasted ; 
on  the  contrary,  it  is  well  adapted  to  regions  of  the  comic 
and  grotesque,  like  the  Malebolge.  All  I  maintain  is  that 
this  transformation  should  not  be  given  out  as  one  of 
Dante's  greatest  creations.  Farinata  on  his  bed  of  fire,  the 
celestial  messenger  traversing  the  Stygian  marsh  dryshod, 
Pope  Nicholas  in  the  infernal  borsa,  are  splendid  creations 
of  Dante's  imagination.  The  eighth  bolgia  (c.  xxvi.),  again, 
supplies  us  with  a  picture  loftier  in  character — Ulysses,  the 
immortal  type  of  man's  thirst  for  knowledge,  in  whose  bold 
voyage  of  discovery  Dante  has  managed  to  express  all  the 
strange  poetry  of  the  sea. 

The  deeper  we  descend,  the  more  crude  and  realistic 
does  the  style  become  :  Dante  does  not  hesitate  to  present 
to  us  objects  that  are  ugly,  and  to  call  them  by  their  proper 
name.  The  sojourn  of  the  forgers  in  the  tenth  bolgia 
(c.  xxix.  sq,)  is  the  place  of  the  most  loathsome  things,  of 


3l8      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

diseases,  wounds,  and  stench,  and  the  poet  does  not  spare 
his  colours ;  on  the  contrary,  he  paints  for  us,  intentionally 
and  with  various  images,  the  most  disgusting  objects.  He 
also  describes  to  us  the  quarrel  between  Master  Adam  of 
Brescia  and  the  Greek  Sinon.  They  come  to  blows  and 
hurl  vulgar  imprecations  at  each  other,  so  that  Virgil  is 
almost  angry  with  the  poet  for  listening — 

For  a  base  wish  it  is  to  wish  to  hear  it. 

Further  on  even  this  ceases;  every  kind  of  movement 
ceases.  In  the  ninth  and  last  circle  the  very  nature  of  Hell 
has  become  ice,  and  the  sinners  are  frozen  in  ice.  Here 
treachery  is  punished — the  deepest  corruption  of  the  human 
mind.  Against  this  blackest  of  sins  the  heart  is  closed,  for 
these  condemned  souls  there  is  naught  but  cruel  hatred. 
Dante  ill-treats  them,  and  ruthlessly  treads  on  them  with  his 
feet.  Higher  up  he  gave  the  souls  promises  of  fame,  in 
order  to  make  them  speak.  But  these  down  here  do  not 
wish  people  in  the  world  to  speak  of  them :  they  cannot 
expect  glory,  but  only  infamy.  Accordingly,  they  do  not 
wish  to  speak,  and  to  say  who  they  are;  but  Dante 
endeavours  to  make  them  do  it  by  force,  nay,  even  by 
deception.  He  finds  in  the  ice  Bocca  degli  Abati,  who 
betrayed  the  Guelphs  in  the  battle  of  Montaperti.  When 
he  gives  no  reply  to  the  question  as  to  who  he  is,  the  poet's 
wrath  is  kindled  :  he  seizes  him  by  the  hair,  and  begins 
shaking  him  so  that  he  howls,  with  his  eyes  turned  down 
(xxxii.  97).  In  this  trait  of  savage  cruelty  towards  the 
sinner,  towards  the  soul  abandoned  by  Divine  grace,  there  is 
something  magnificent  in  the  very  barbarism,  that  shows 
us  Dante  as  the  man  of  his  age,  with  his  pitiless  conception 
of  justice.  But,  none  the  less,  even  in  the  midst  of  this  icy 
desert,  here  at  the  very  end  of  Hell,  where  every  feeling 
would  seem  to  be  dead,  appear  once  again  all  the  poetic 
elements  that  we  found  in  such  numbers  in  the  upper 
circles.  In  the  scene  of  Ugolino  the  entire  poetic  character 
of  Dante's  Hell  is  revealed  again ;  it  forms,  as  it  were,  a 
final  synthesis  of  this  Hell,  with  all  its  horrors  and  emotions. 
Never  was  a  more  terrible  spectacle  invented  by  a  poet. 
Here  Divine  justice  has  made  the  injured  one  himself  the 
instrument  for    punishing  the   criminal,  and   handed    the 


THE   "COMMEDIA 


i) 


319 


sinner  over  to  the  man  he  has  sacrificed,  so  that  the  latter 
may  avenge  himself;  and  Ugolino  satisfies  his  boundless 
wrath  by  gnawing  away  the  skull  of  his  enemy,  the  Arch- 
bishop Ruggieri.  But,  on  being  questioned  by  Dante,  this 
shade  opens  its  mouth  to  speak,  and  tells  us  its  story,  this, 
too,  from  motives  of  revenge;  however,  it  is  a  story  of 
tender  feelings,  which,  being  wounded  in  bestial  fashion, 
have  become  the  cause  of  this  bestial  revenge. 

The  first  cantica,  the  "  Inferno,"  is  the  most  popular  and 
the  best  known  portion  of  the  "  Commedia."    Sixty-five  years 
ago  Fauriel  designated  this   general  preference  as  an  old 
prejudice,  which  it  was  time  to  remove.     "  Without  doubt," 
he  said,   "the  '  Inferno '  contains  great  beauties ;   but  the 
greatest  are  incontestably  in  the  two  other  parts."  ^     How- 
ever, the  general  public  has  not  since  then  subscribed  to 
this  opinion  of  the   illustrious   critic,  thereby  showing  its 
judgment.     Not  that  Dante  is  inferior  as  a  poet  in  the  two 
other  cantiche ;  but  in  these  his  theme  was  a  different  one, 
and  of  such  a  nature  that  even  his  genius  was  not  always 
able  to  overcome  its  difficulties.    At  the  very  entry  into  Pur- 
gatory the  dramatic  life  becomes  less  intense.      Those  con- 
demned in  Hell  remain  for  ever  in  their  sin ;  but  at  the  same 
time  they  retain  their  human  form.     On  the  other  hand,  the 
soul  which  becomes  purified  and  ascends  to  God,  leaves  behind 
everything  that  is  earthly,  as  the  corruption  which  it  is  entirely 
bent  on  shaking  off.     Those  scenes  full  of  passion  are  no 
longer  possible  ;  the  moral  idea  is  more  obvious,  and  the 
symbolism  plays  a  larger  part.     The  inner  process  of  con- 
version, repentance,  and  purification  is  outwardly  expressed 
by  the  seven  P's  which  the  angel  writes  on  Dante's  brow, 
and  which  signify  the  seven  mortal  sins,  and  are  cancelled 
one  after  the  other,  as  also  by  the  ascent,  ever  increasing  in 
easiness,  of  the  steps  that  lead  from  one  circle  to  the  other. 
Images  cut  in  the  rocks,  representing  well-known  examples 
from  sacred  and  profane  history,  voices  in  the  air  alluding 
to  these,  and  allegorical  visions,  acquaint  the  reader  in  every 
circle  with  the  nature  of  the  sin  for  which  penance  is  done 
there,  and  with  the  condition  of  the  suffering  souls ;  and 
the  same  object  is  achieved  by  the  Latin  psalms  and  Church 

^   •*  Dante  et  les  origines  de  la  langue  et  de  la  litterature  italiennes," 
i.  31.     (Paris,'  1854  ;  lectures  delivered  in  1833  and  1834.) 


320      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

hymns  sung  by  the  spirits,  which,  as  being  generally  known, 
the  poet  only  indicates  by  the  opening  words — a  mode  of 
abbreviation  that  can  scarcely  be  termed  poetical.  We  have 
still  scenes  full  of  tender  and  warm  feeling,  such  as  Dante's 
meeting  with  Casella  or  with  Forese  Donati ;  but  the  im- 
pression is  more  gentle  and  more  subdued.  The  souls  no 
longer  appear  so  violently  moved,  nor  with  so  strong  an 
individuality,  but  are  depicted  with  more  general  traits. 
Among  them  we  have,  perhaps,  only  two  figures  of  pro- 
nounced personal  character — Sordello,  the  type  of  a  noble 
and  proud  patriotism,  whose  appearance  gives  occasion  for 
the  magnificent  lament  on  the  strife  raging  in  Italy ;  and 
Statius,  whose  colloquy  with  Virgil  again  expresses  in  so 
warm  a  manner  Dante's  love  for  and  admiration  of 
antiquity. 

The  general  character  of  the  *' Purgatorio "  is  one  of 
gentleness  and  calm.  One  feels  that  one  is  ascending  to- 
wards peace,  and  accordingly  those  figures  are  drawn  most 
successfully  which  are,  as  it  were,  the  forerunners  and 
messengers  of  heavenly  peace,  namely,  the  angels.  Nature, 
too,  is  now  as  peaceful  and  gentle  as  it  was  overpowering 
and  terrible  in  Hell,  and  the  contrast  produces  a  wonderful 
effect,  when  the  poets  return  from  the  darkness  of  the  abyss 
to  the  sight  of  Heaven,  light  and  colour  (i.  13) : 

Sweet  colour  of  the  oriental  sapphire, 

That  was  upgathered  in  the  cloudless  aspect 

Of  the  pure  air,  as  far  as  the  first  circle, 

Unto  mine  eyes  did  recommence  delight 

Soon  as  I  issued  forth  from  the  dead  air, 

Which  had  with  sadness  filled  mine  eyes  and  breast. 

Soon  after  (i.  115)  is  described  the  delightful  spectacle 
offered  to  us  when,  at  the  disappearance  of  darkness,  we  see, 
from  a  height,  the  first  rays  of  the  sun  glittering  on  the  ripple 
of  the  sea.  Nature  is  poetical  through  its  relation  with  our 
emotions,  and  it  is  in  this  sense  that  Dante,  a  master  in  this 
field,  too,  depicts  it.  He  wishes  to  paint  for  us  the  evening 
twilight,  and  instead  of  enumerating  external  objects,  he  pre- 
sents the  scene  to  us  by  means  of  the  impression  it  makes 
on  the  human  heart,  in  the  famous  verses  at  the  beginning 
of  the  eighth  canto  : 


THE  "COMMEDIA"  32 1 

'Twas  now  the  hour  that  turneth  back  desire 
In  those  who  sail  the  sea,  and  melts  the  heart. 
The  day  they've  said  to  their  sweet  friends  farewell, 
And  the  new  pilgrim  penetrates  with  love. 
If  he  doth  hear  from  far  away  a  bell 
That  seemeth  to  deplore  the  dying  day. 

After  the  storm  of  the  passions  has  ceased,  there  is  room 
for  peaceful  thought,  for  scientific  and  philosophical  con- 
templation. The  long  abstract  didactic  passages  become 
more  and  more  frequent.  Virgil  discourses  on  the  in- 
scrutability of  Divine  justice,  on  sins  caused  by  false  love,  on 
free  will,  and  also  on  astronomical  questions ;  whilst  Statius 
dilates  on  the  origin  of  the  three  faculties  of  the  soul,  accord- 
ing to  Aristotle,  and  on  the  spiritual  body  with  which  the 
souls  clothe  themselves  in  the  other  world,  so  that  they  pre- 
serve their  human  aspect.  Here  in  the  "  Purgatorio  "  occur 
also  Dante's  important  and  oft-quoted  maxims  concerning 
art  and  poetry,  in  the  colloquies  with  Oderisi  da  Gubbio, 
Buonagiunta  Urbiciani,  and  Guido  GuinicelU. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  "  Purgatorio,"  when  Dante  has 
reached   the   Earthly   Paradise,   a  magnificent  procession 
comes  towards  him,  described  with  details  that  are,  for  the 
most  part,  taken  from  the  Apocalypse.     This  is  a  representa- 
tion of  the  triumph  of  Faith.     On  to  the  triumphal  chariot 
(an  image  of  the  Church),  drawn  by  the  griffin  (which  in 
its  double  form  represents  the  Man-God),  descends  Re- 
velation or  Theology.     But  this  figure  is  called  Beatrice,  and 
not  merely  is  it  called  so,  but  it  actually  is  Dante's  Beatrice. 
The  "  Commedia  "  was  to  be  the  apotheosis,  the  glorification 
of  the  loved  one ;  by  dint  of  long  study  the  poet  wished  to 
prepare  himself,  in  order  to  say  of  her  things  that  had  never 
been  said  of  any  woman.     Thereupon  his  mistress  became 
more  and  more  transfigured  in  his  eyes,  personifying  the 
loftiest  theme  that  was  known  to  him,  Divine  science.    But 
a  mere  symbol  she  could  never  become :  the  Beatrice  who 
had  been  the  object  of  his  first  passion  could  never  change 
into  an  abstraction.     Infinitely  touching  is  this  worship  of 
an  entire  lifetime,  this  youthful  love,  which,  after  a  period 
of  storm  and  passion,  returns  into  the  man's  heart,  and  in 
his  eyes  is  merged  into  everything  that  is  most  pure  and  most 
sacred,  inspiring  the  last  and  greatest  achievement  of  his 

L  Y 


322      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

genius.     It  was  always  a  spiritual,  mystical  passion,  and  now 
that  the  loved  one  dwells  in  Heaven,  it  has  become  even 
more  transfigured;   but  still  it  always  remams  a  genume 
sentiment,  it  remains  love.     When  she  sees  him  threatened 
by  the  three  beasts  in  the  allegorical  wood,  she  leaves  her 
seat  among  the  blessed,  descends  into  Hell,  and  entreats 
Virgil  with  tears  quickly  to  lend  him  his  aid.      I  he  sight  ot 
her  is  promised  him  on  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  and  it 
is  this  hope  that  draws  him  up  on  his  weary  way,  that  gives 
him  new  strength,  when  he  is  about  to  fail.     When,  in  the 
last  circle,  he  is  to  pass  through  the  purifying  fire,  and  is 
filled  with  fear,  Virgil  says  to  him  :  "  Now  look  thou,  son, 
'twixt  Beatrice  and  thee  there  is  this  wall,"  and  immediately 
Dante's  resistance  is  at  an  end,  "  hearing  the  name  that  in 
my  memory  evermore  is  welling  " ;  and  he  willingly  follows 
his  guide,  who  encourages  him  even  in  the  midst  of  the  tor- 
menting flames,  by  speaking  of  Beatrice  : 


<c 


Her  eyes  I  seem  to  see  already." 


Now  at  length  she  appears  herself.  The  moment,  so 
long  prepared,  is  solemn  in  the  highest  degree.  Dante  is 
beneath  the  trees  of  the  Earthly  Paradise,  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  Lethe,  and  opposite  to  him,  separated  by  the  water, 
is  the  chariot  with  the  griffin.  On  all  sides  the  procession 
has  halted,  the  seven  candlesticks  burning  with  heavenly 
light,  the  four  and  twenty  Elders,  clad  in  white  and  crowned 
wtth'roses,  the  Evangelists,  the  seven  virtues,  dancing  round 
the  chariot  wheels,  and  the  angels  scattering  flowers.  And 
she  stands  in  her  chariot,  in  the  midst  of  her  glory,  robed  in 
the  colour  of  flame,  as  when  he  first  saw  her  in  his  boyhood. 
She  is  still  veiled,  but  by  a  secret  power  his  heart  has  recog- 
nised her.  On  seeing  her,  of  whom  he  had  been  so  long 
deprived,  all  his  old  feelings  are  roused  anew  : 

lo  vidi  gia  nel  cominciar  del  giorno 

La  parte  oriental  tiitta  rosata 

E  I'altro  del  di  bel  sereno  adorno, 
E  la  faccia  del  Sol  nascere  ombrata, 

Si  che,  per  temperanza  de'  vapori, 

L'occhio  la  sostenea  liinga  fiata  : 
Cosi  dentro  una  nuvola  di  fiori, 

Che  dalle  mani  angelische  saliva 

E  ricadeva  giii  dentro  e  di  fuori, 


THE  "COMMEDIA"  323 

Sovra  candido  vel  cinta  d'oliva 

Donna  m'apparve  sotto  verde  manto 
Vestita  di  color  di  fiamma  viva. 

E  lo  spirito  mio,  che  gia  cotanto 
Tempo  era  stato,  ch'  alia  sua  presenza 
Non  era  di  stupor  tremando  affranto, 

Sanza  dagli  occhi  aver  piu  conoscenza, 
Per  occulta  virtii,  che  da  lei  mosse, 
D'antico  amor  senti  la  gran  potenza.^ 

He  feels  the  old  love ;  the  sight  of  Beatrice  kindles  his 
heart  and  his  imagination,  which  surrounds  her  appearance 
with  the  richest  and  most  brilliant  images.  In  the  midst  of 
the  highest  development  of  symbolism,  the  poetry  again 
becomes  personal.  Dante  is,  as  we  have  said,  himself  the 
most  interesting  figure,  the  true  protagonist  of  the  "  Corn- 
media."  After  the  death  of  Beatrice  he  had  erred  and 
sinned  in  the  life  of  excitement  that  followed.  He,  too,  had 
a  consciousness  of  guilt ;  he,  too,  had  been  in  the  wood  of 
human  misery.  If,  after  so  many  storms  that  had  swept 
over  his  soul,  the  recollection  of  his  former  pure  love  now 
returned,  the  recollection  of  that  innocent  and  ideal  exist- 
ence of  the  "Vita  Nuova,"  which  knew  naught  of  the  harsh 
and  corrupted  reality  of  earth,  then  this  recollection  at  the 
same  time  became  a  reproach.  The  image  of  Beatrice,  that 
he  now  [sees  on  the  other  bank  of  the  river,  is  in  his  eyes 
a  reproach.     In  this  way  we  touch  in  this  passage  his  own 

^    Ere  now  have  I  beheld,  as  day  began, 

The  eastern  hemisphere  all  tinged  with  rose, 
And  the  other  heaven  with  fair  serene  adorned  ; 

And  the  sun's  face,  uprising,  overshadowed 
So  that  by  tempering  influence  of  vapours 
For  a  long  interval  the  eye  sustained  it ; 

Thus  in  the  bosom  of  a  cloud  of  flowers 

Which  from  those  hands  angelical  ascended, 
And  downward  fell  again  inside  and  out, 

Over  her  snow-white  veil  with  olive  cinct 
Appeared  a  lady  under  a  green  mantle, 
Vested  in  colour  of  the  living  flame. 

And  my  own  spirit,  that  already  now 

So  long  a  time  had  been,  that  in  her  presence 
Trembling  with  awe,  it  had  not  stood  abashed, 

Without  more  knowledge  having  by  mine  eyes, 
Through  occult  virtue  that  from  her  proceeded 
Of  ancient  love  the  mighty  influence  felt. 

XXX.  22  sqq. 


324     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

most  intimate  history.  The  deepest  and  truest  idea  of  the 
« Purgatorio,"  the  really  dramatic  idea  of  the  jra^//^^,  is 
revealed  here  at  the  close.  That  which  had  hitherto  been 
indicated  by  means  of  symbolism,  and  in  an  abstract 
manner,  is  now  presented  in  its  psychological  realism— the 
smarts  of  conscience,  the  repentance,  the  process  of  purihca- 
tion  in  the  soul,  or  rather  in  the  living  man :  for  the  pro- 
cess takes  place  in  Dante,  who  came  thither  in  his  body, 
who  is  no  mere  naked  soul,  but  an  individual,  capable  of 
feeling  all  that  is  felt  on  earth.  He  has  been  through  all 
the  circles,  the  angels  have  cancelled  from  his  brow  the 
signs  of  sin  ;  he  has  passed  through  the  torturing  fire  with 
terror  and  reluctance.  But  that  is  all  as  nothing  His  true 
purgatory  awaits  him  here  on  the  summit,  in  the  Earthly 
Paradise :  it  consists  in  the  accusations  of  his  beloved,  in 
his  shame,  his  grief,  and  his  tears. 

When  the  great  event,  the  appearance  of  Beatnce,  nas 
taken  place,  and  Dante  experiences  this  deep  emotion,  he 
turns  to  the  man  who  has  hitherto  accompanied  him  and 
sympathised  with  all  his  feelings.  But  Virgil  has  in  the 
meantime  disappeared,  and  Dante,  though  in  the  midst  of 
the  eternal  beauties  of  Paradise,  and  though  he  has  before 
his  eyes  that  felicity,  so  ardently  longed  for,  yet  cannot 
restrain  himself  from  bewailing  the  loss  of  his  sweet  father. 
Thereupon  he  hears  the  voice  of  his  exalted  lady  on  the 

chariot : 

Dante,  because  Virgilius  has  departed 
Do  not  weep  yet,  do  not  weep  yet  awhile ; 
For  by  another  sword  thou  need'st  must  weep. 

And  he,  called  by  his  name,  this  being  the  only  time  in  the 
whole  poem,  raises   his   look   and  sees  that  the  eyes  o 
Beatrice  are  fixed  on  him,  and  she,  severe,  "  in  attitude  still 
royally  majestic,"  continues : 

Look  at  me  well ;  in  sooth,  I'm  Beatrice  ! 

How  didst  thou  deign  to  come  into  the  Mountam  ? 

Didst  thou  not  know  that  man  is  happy  here  ? 

Then  his  eyes  descend  to  the  water  that  flows  at  his  side ; 
but  when  he  sees  himself  mirrowed  in  it,  his  shame  in- 
creases, and  he  lowers  them  to  the  grass  at  his  feet. 
Beatrice  is  sUent.    The  angels  begin  to  sing,  filled  with  pity 


THE  "COMMEDIA" 


32s 


for  him,  and  his  grief,  frozen  and  locked  up  in  his  heart,  is 
loosed  when  he  notes  the  sympathy  in  their  voices,  and 
resolves  itself  into  tears.      But  she  turns    to   the  angels, 
accusing  him,  and  telling   the  story  of  his    erring  ways. 
How,  in  his  youth,  his  disposition  was  perfect  by  Divine 
grace,  how  she  led  him  for  a  time  along  the  right  path,  but 
how  he  turned  away  and  gave  himself  up  to  the  false  goods 
of  the  earth,  when  she  had  scarcely  left  him  to  ascend  from 
the  beauty  of  earth  to  that  of  eternity,  and  when  he  should 
have  endeavoured  to  follow  her  example ;  how  dreams  and 
inspirations  were  all  in  vain,  and  there  remained  no  means 
of  salvation  save  by  showing  him  the  terrors  of  Hell,  and 
how  she  accomplished  that  for  him,  too,  and  hastened  down 
to  Limbo  to  do  her  good  offices  for  him,  and  wept  for  him. 
Then  she  again  addresses  her  words  to  him,  and  forces  him 
to  confess,  and  when   he  has  uttered  a  scarcely  audible 
"  Yea,"  she  endeavours  still  further  to  rouse  his  conscience, 
and  asks  him  what  was  able  to  alienate  him  from  her  ;  and 
his  reply  is  followed  by  fresh  reproaches.     He  is  dumb,  his 
eyes  bent  on  the  ground,  till,  at  her  command,  he  raises  his 
head,  mastering  himself  with  difficulty,  and  then  he  sees 
that  the  rain  of  flowers,  which  had  hitherto  half  concealed 
her,  has  ceased.     And  she  stands  there,  her  eyes  directed 
towards  the  griffin,  and,  though  still  shrouded  and  far  off 
her  beauty  appears  to  him  greater  than  that  she  possessed 
on  earth,  in  the  same  proportion  as  it  was  formerly  superior 
to  that  of  all  other  w^omen.     When  he  sees  this,  his  repent- 
ance for  his  ingratitude  becomes  yet  more  keen,  and  he 
sinks  down  unconscious.     On  recovering,  he  finds  himself 
in  the  waters  of  Lethe,  which  free  the  soul  from  all  remem- 
brance of  guilt,  and  thereupon  he  is  led  before  Beatrice,  who 
at  last  unveils  herself  in  all  her  heavenly,  ineffable  beauty  : 

O  isplendor  di  viva  luce  etema, 
Chi  pallido  si  fece  sotto  I'ombra 
Si  di  Parnaso  o  bevve  in  sua  cisterna, 

Che  non  paresse  aver  la  mente  ingombra 
Tentando  a  render  te,  qual  tu  paresti 
Lk  dove  armonizzando  il  ciel  t'adombra, 

Quando  nell'  aere  aperto  ti  solvesti.  ^ 


^   O  splendour  of  the  living  light  eternal  ! 

Who  underneath  the  shadow  of  Parnassus 


326      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Here  the  mystic  love  of  the  Middle  Ages  has  attained  its 
loftiest  poetic  expression,  which  cannot  be  surpassed.     This 
love  does  not  end  with  the  death  of  the  beloved,  but  really 
does  not  begin  till  she  "  changes  Ufe,"  till  she  has  ascended 
from  flesh  to  spirit,  and  has  increased  in  beauty  and  per- 
fection, till  she  draws  her  lover  from  the  false  thmgs  ot 
earth,  "  after  her  herself,  that  is  no  longer  such.'      Love  is 
virtue  and  religion ;   to   desert   virtue  and  religion  means 
leaving  the  loved  one,  each  f^ilse  step  is  an  act  ot  intidelity 
towards   Beatrice.      If  we  were  to   conceive  anyone   else 
reproaching  Dante  in  this  manner,  the  result  would  be  a 
dry  moralisation,  a  sermon ;  but  it  is  the  loved  one  that 
makes  the  reproaches,  that  condemns  his  sins  as  a  treachery 
against  his  passion  for  her,  and  we  have  a  highly  dramatic 
scene.     It  is  the  apotheosis  of  his  mistress,  inspired  not  by 
reason,  but  by  the  heart.     She  is  not  yet  ?  goddess,  cold 
and  unfeeling  in  her  glory  ;  she  is  a  woman,  full  of  solicitude 
for  the  salvation  of  her  lover,  and  the  very  violence  of  her 
reproaches  is  inspired  by  her  passion.     Here  we  have  still 
the   true,    the   personal    Beatrice,    no  longer  in    Paradise, 
although  it  is  there  that  the  poet  thought  he  had  attained  a 
highei  degree  of  art.     The  first  aspect,  indeed,  is  as  fine  a 
conception  as  poetry  can  supply.     Beatrice,  her  eyes  glow- 
ing with  a  holy  smile,  looks  steadfastly  at  the  heavens,  and, 
soaring  upwards,  leaves  the  tiny  earth  behind      Rising  in 
the  infinite  space,  she  ascends  higher  and  higher  towards 
the  light,  towards  the  Deity.     And  as  the  lover  looks  at  her, 
he  feels  himself  drawn  after  her  by  some  secret  power ;  he, 
too,  ascends,  and  they  fly  together  from  heaven  to  heaven. 
But  there  are  conceptions  for  which  our  imagination  requires 
freedom.     The  infinite  does  not  make  an  impression  on  us, 
save  when  it  is  indicated  in  a  general  way.     It  cannot  be 
described  :  every  detail  raises  up  a  barrier  and  destroys  the 
feeling  of  the  infinite  itself.      Thus   it   is  with  this  flight 
through  the  heavens  :  magnificent  as  a  piece  of  imagination, 

I  lath  grown  so  pale,  or  drunk  so  at  its  cistern, 
He  would  not  seem  to  have  his  mind  encumbered, 
Striving  to  paint  thee  as  thou  didst  appear. 
Where  the  harmonious  heaven  o'ershadowed  thee, 
When  in  the  open  air  thou  didst  unveil?  ^_^^^^ 

XXXI.  139  ^^^ 


THE  "COMMEDIA 


ij 


327 


it  loses  all  its  effect  in  the  representation.  It  is  the  constant 
repetition  of  the  same  motion,  for  a  gradation  is  impossible. 
This  Beatrice  began  in  so  sublime  a  way,  that  we  can  con- 
ceive nothing  more  lofty.  Ever  more  she  glows  with  divine 
love,  radiates  with  increasing  brightness  into  the  eyes  of  the 
lover.  But  when  the  poet  desires  to  give  us  an  idea  of  this 
superhuman  splendour,  he  must  needs  employ  abstractions, 
a  kind  of  mathematical  proof,  and  then  always  end  with  the 
confession  that  such  things  transcend  human  capacity,  and 
cannot  be  expressed  in  human  speech.  And  when  we  hear 
this  Beatrice  of  the  "  Paradiso  "  speak,  when  she  explains  to 
Dante  the  nature  of  the  lunar  spots,  or  the  inclination  of 
all  that  is  created  towards  its  principle  in  God,  we  might  in 
truth  be  listening  to  some  scholastic  doctor,  leading  us  care- 
fully from  conclusion  to  conclusion.  Here  she  really  repre- 
sents Theology  rather  than  the  loved  one,  the  symbol 
rather  than  the  person. 

And  what  we  have  said  of  Beatrice  may  be  extended  to 
the  "  Paradiso  "  in  general.  Paradise  is  the  region  of  spirit 
freed  entirely  from  matter,  and  this  wholly  spiritual  life  is 
expressed  by  the  purest  light,  by  the  sweetest  harmony,  by 
the  swiftest  and  noblest,  that  is  to  say,  circular  motion. 
The  source  of  the  motion  is  the  love  of  and  desire  for  the 
highest  good,  and  the  nearer  one  approaches  this  principle, 
God,  the  more  glowing  is  the  love,  the  more  vivid  the  light, 
the  swifter  the  movement.  Thus  it  is  with  the  nine 
heavenly  spheres;  thus,  too,  with  the  souls  Dante  meets 
here.  They  have  no  longer  any  body,  not  even  the  ethereal, 
body  of  the  "  Purgatorio."  They  are  no  longer  recognisable 
beings,  but  must  themselves  explain  who  they  were.  They 
are  lights  that  are  distinguished  from  one  another  by  their 
clearness  and  strength.  The  more  grace,  the  more  percep- 
tion ;  the  more  perception,  the  more  love ;  the  more  love, 
the  stronger  the  light,  the  sweeter  the  singing,  the  swifter 
the  movement.  The  most  powerful  light  is  in  the  Empyrean 
itself ;  and  it  is  only  there  that  the  souls  appear  in  their  true 
human  aspect,  transfigured  to  heavenly  beauty,  clad  in 
white  garments,  and  forming,  in  the  graduating  ranks  of 
their  seats,  an  enormous  rose,  which,  in  its  centre,  incloses 
a  sea  of  light  reflected  from  the  light  of  God.  And  on  to 
the  leaves  of  the  mystic  rose  the  angels  descend  from  God 


328      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

like  butterflies,  and  return  to  him  again  ;  and  as  they  fly  up 
and  down,  they  are  the  bearers  of  peace  and  love. 

But  how  is  this  immaterial  realm  to  be  depicted  in  art  ? 
For  the  scenes  of  Hell  the  earth  gave  its  rough  and  vigorous 
images,  while  its  tenderest  and  loveliest  were  suitable  for 
Purgatory.     Paradise,  on  the  other  hand,  has  nothing  below 
resembling  it ;  the  most  beautiful,  pure,  and  splendid  thmgs 
are  naught  as  compared  with  the  glory  above.     Each  image 
for  Paradise  is  a  diminution,  by  substituting  the  finite  for  the 
infinite,   the   limited   for  the  illimitable.      Where   are  the 
means  for  representing  that  which  transcends  nature  and 
perception,  nay,  even  thought?     If  one  wishes  to  paint  it 
all,  we  have  nothing  but  the  colours  of  the  earth ;  for  the 
human  imagination   possesses   these   alone,   and  even  the 
greatest  artist  does  not  create  out  of  nothing.     Dante  wishes 
to  depict  the  heaven  of  purest  light,  and  can  only  give  us 
the  conception  of  our  sunlight,  a  mere  shadow  compared 
with  the  other.    He  wishes  to  describe  the  heavenly  melodies, 
and   is  forced  to  remind  us   of  sounds   heard  on   earth. 
What,  then,  is  the  use  of  the  comparatives  and  superlatives, 
of  the  assurance  that  that  light  of  Paradise  was  a  thousand 
times  more  brilliant,  that  melody  a  thousand  times  more 
sweet?     For  these  superlative  degrees  remain  invisible  to 
our  imagination.     The  means  of  art  are  of  the  earth,  and 
where  these  are   no   longer    adequate,    art    itself    ceases. 
In  the  supreme  efforts  of  his  genius,   Dante  succeeds  in 
creating   some  splendid  images.     Beautiful   is   the  mystic 
rose,  reflecting  itself  in  the  sea  of  light,  while  angelic  butter- 
flies float  up  and  down ;  beautiful,  the  descending  triumph 
of  the  blessed,  compared  with  a  ray  of  the  sun,  that  falls, 
through  broken  clouds,  on  to  a  meadow  of  flowers  (xxiii. 
79);   beautiful,  too,  the  stream   of  light  between  flowery 
banks,  and  the  sparks,  which,  issuing  from  the  river,  settle 
on  the  flowers  and  return  as  though  inebriate   (xxx.  61), 
this,  like  the  rose,  signifying  the  blessed  receiving  the  grace 
of  God.     But  here  the  entire  beauty  is  limited  to  the  image 
taken  by  itself,  and  without  regard  for  that  which  it  is  in- 
tended to  depict.     Each  is  a  splendid  image,  but  ineff'ective 
for  its  real  purpose. 

The  personality  of  the   saint  is  difficult  to  employ  in 
poetry.     In  the  sinner  and  penitent  there  is  life,  action,  and 


THE  "COMMEDIA" 


329 


development.  On  the  other  hand,  the  saints  have  already 
reached  their  goal,  and  are  unchangeable  in  their  present 
condition;  their  perfection  is  uniform,  their  passion  one, 
and  that  invariable — the  love  of  God.  The  only  thing  they 
are  still  able  to  do  is  to  impart  some  of  their  perfection  to 
others,  to  instruct  them  and  show  them  the  right  way,  and 
that  is  what  they  do  with  Dante  when  he  encounters  them. 
In  this  way  the  "  Paradiso  "  is  filled,  to  a  far  greater  extent 
than  the  two  other  cantiche^  with  scientific  disquisitions. 
Not  only  Beatrice,  but  S.  Bernard  and  Charles  Martel,  too, 
become  instructors ;  the  apostles  Peter,  James,  and  John 
subject  Dante  to  a  terrible  examination,  which  occupies 
almost  three  entire  cantos,  on  the  three  theological  virtues. 

The  less  the  true  subject-matter  of  the  "Paradiso" 
admits  of  direct  expression,  the  more  does  the  poet  seek  the 
aid  of  symbolism,  by  means  of  which  it  is  indicated  through 
outward  signs.  This  also  accounts  for  the  curious  archi- 
tectural allegorical  figures,  over  which  Dante  takes  such 
pains  in  this  cantica.  In  the  Sun  the  souls  of  the  holy 
monks  form  revolving  garlands ;  in  Mars  the  warriors  arrange 
themselves  into  the  sign  of  the  Cross ;  in  Jupiter  the  souls 
of  the  just  appear  first  as  letters  joined  together,  constituting 
Latin  words,  and  then  as  the  Imperial  Eagle.  The  "  Para- 
diso" is  a  continual  struggle  with  that  which  cannot  be 
expressed.  The  sentiment,  indeed,  remains,  marked  by 
that  poetical  element  which  was  contained  in  the  religious 
poetry  before  Dante.  The  general  inspiration  is  lyrical, 
producing  the  hymn,  as,  for  example,  the  glorious  prayer 
addressed  by  S.  Bernard  to  the  Virgin  in  the  last  canto  ; 
still  it  does  not  suffice  for  the  creation  of  concrete  forms. 

Even  here,  however,  everything  is  not  spiritual  and 
abstract.  There  is  always,  in  the  midst  of  so  many  blessed 
spirits,  one  human  personality,  Dante  himself.  The  saints 
have  no  earthly  existence,  but  Dante  has,  and  never  in  the 
whole  poem  are  there  more  vivid  echoes  of  it,  with  its 
varying  fortunes,  than  here,  in  the  prophecy  of  his  ancestor 
Cacciaguida,  whose  soul  he  meets  in  Mars.  The  saints, 
elevated  to  such  lofty  heights,  can  scarcely  take  the  events 
and  condition  of  our  miserable  earth  much  to  heart ;  but 
Dante  is  keenly  interested  in  these  matters,  and  makes 
them  share  his  feelings.     He  makes  Cacciaguida  speak  of 


330     HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

the  good  old  times  in  bygone  Florence,  and  with  these 
he  contrasts  the  present  sinful  and  divided  city.  Dante 
never  forgets  in  Paradise  whence  he  has  come  (xxxi.  39) : 

I  who  to  the  divine  had  from  the  human, 
From  time  unto  eternity,  had  come, 
From  Florence  to  a  people  just  and  sane. 

He  compares  the  place  from  which  he  comes  with  that  in 
which  he  is,  and  notes  the  contrast  between  that  world  of 
sin  and  injustice,  and  this  world  of  love  and  peace,      ihis 
gives  rise  to  the  bitterest  reproaches  against  the  corruption 
on  earth.     The  saints  kindle  with  wrath  and  passion ;  they 
do  not  hesitate  to  employ  harsh  and  lowly  words,  in  order 
to  lash  more  effectively  this  state  of  depravity.    In  the  same 
way  as  Cacciaguida  inveighs   against   the  Florentines,  so 
S   Peter  Damian  reproves  the  pompous  living  of  the  priests, 
Benedict  the  vices  of  the  monks,   the    Imperial   Eagle  in 
Jupiter  the  avaricious  Popes  and  princes,  Beatrice  herselt 
false  preachers.     The  apostle  Peter  fulminates  in  the  most 
terrible  way  against  the  Holy  See,  and  in  the  vcr)'  centre  ot 
the  mystic  rose,  in  sight  of  eternal  peace,  Dante  recalls  the 
struggle  of  the  parties,  of  Henry  VII.  and  his  opponent 
Clement   V.,   and  ungrateful   Florence,   that  has   banished 
him.      The    most    solemn   of  these   invectives   is  that  ot 
S.  Peter,  whose  countenance  glows,  when  he  begins  to  speak 
of  Boniface  : 

Quegli  ch'  usurpa  in  terra  il  luogo  mio, 
i\  luogo  mio,  il  luogo  mio,  che  vaca 
Nella  presenza  del  Figliuol  di  Dio,^ 

and  the  flame  of  his  wrath  kindles  the  entire  heaven  of  the 
blessed,  even  Beatrice  herself,  and  he  continues  with  altered 

^^The  saints,  who  behold  in  God  the  entire  truth  unveiled, 
moralise  with  more  authority.  For  this  reason  the  invectives 
are  more  numerous  here,  in  the  realm  of  peace,  than  else- 
where Regarded  from  the  Christian  standpoint,  they  are, 
perhaps,  not  always  appropriate :  they  are  so  violent,  and 

^    He  who  usurps  upon  the  earth  my  place, 
My  place,  my  place,  which  vacant  has  become 
Before  the  presence  of  the  Son  of  God. 


THE  "COMMEDIA" 


331 


it  may  be  doubted  whether  they  are  entirely  impartial.  But 
by  reason  of  their  very  warmth  they  are  full  of  poetry,  and 
if  they  were  lacking,  the  "  Paradiso  "  would  be  without  its 
most  poetical  element.  Dante  himself  was  not  the  most 
perfect  of  men,  judged  according  to  Christian  morality :  he 
was  no  saint,  and  did  not  know  how  to  humble  himself. 
But  his  was  a  lofty  spirit,  hating  everything  that  was  low 
and  vile.  His  faults  were  such  as  spring  up  in  a  great  and 
mighty  soul.  Thus  his  satires  and  invectives  are  due  to  his 
deep  conviction  that  he  is  in  possession  of  the  truth.  In 
his  book  on  the  vulgar  speech  he  called  himself  the  poet  of 
rectitudo :  he  had  conceived  the  poet's  calling  to  be  a  holy 
mission,  an  apostleship.  In  the  other  world  he  is  expressly 
commissioned  to  write  down  what  he  sees  and  hears,  "  for 
that  world's  good  which  liveth  ill"  ("  Purg."  xxxii.  103), 
and  for  this  sacred  office  is  needed  courage  and  a  heart  that 
is  sure  of  itself.  To  tell  the  world  such  terrible  truths, 
without  regard  for  famous  names  and  great  power,  without 
regard  for  friend  or  foe,  was  not  the  task  of  an  ordinary 
soul. 

Never  has  there  been  a  poetical  work  that  was  written  in 
a  loftier  sense  or  with  a  loftier  aim,  never  one  that  was  the 
fruit  of  more  incessant  and  more  earnest  toil,  that  expressed 
more  intimately  the  entire  individuality  of  the  author.  We 
stand  in  reverence  before  such  an  achievement.  Here 
everything  is  of  significance.  If  the  aesthetic  interest  is  not 
always  on  the  same  level,  every  detail,  however  minute, 
possesses  historical  interest :  a  mind  like  Dante's  must  be 
grasped  in  its  entirety.  That  is  why  the  labour  of  scholars 
is  necessary,  in  order  to  explain  the  innumerable  allusions 
to  contemporary  matters,  the  scientific  doctrines,  and,  as  far 
as  possible,  the  hidden  meaning  of  the  allegories.  But,  in 
addition  to  this,  the  "  Commedia  "  requires,  more  than  other 
poems,  the  aid  of  an  aesthetic  commentary,  such  as  the 
brilliant  one  Francesco  de  Sanctis  has  given  us.  Dante's 
poetry  does  not  sweep  along  like  a  broad  stream  on  whose 
bosom  we  may  allow  ourselves  to  be  gently  carried  onwards ; 
but,  in  its  concentrated  energy,  it  strikes  our  minds  like  a 
flash  of  lightning,  and  disappears  immediately,  if  it  has  not 
already  kindled  our  imagination,  and  left  in  it  the  indelible 
traces  of  its  creations. 


332      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Dante's  fame,  great  even  at  the  time  of  his  death,  soon 
increased  enormously.  Giovanni  Villani  dedicates  a  long 
chapter  in  his  chronicle  to  him,  when  treating  of  the 
year  of  his  death.  As  early  as  in  the  third  decade  of  the 
century  the  commentaries  to  the  poem  begin  to  appear,  the 
first  being  those  of  Graziolo  de'  Bambagioli  and  of  Jacopo 
della  Lana.  In  1373  Boccaccio  was  appointed  public  Dante 
interpreter  by  the  commune  of  Florence.  Others  subse- 
quently followed  him  in  the  same  office,  and  the  poem  was 
expounded  in  the  churches  of  San  Stefano  and  of  Santa 
Maria  del  Fiore ;  Dante  chairs  were  also  founded  in  other 
Italian  towns,  in  Bologna,  Pisa,  Piacenza,  Milan,  and 
Venice.  From  an  early  date  artists  drew  their  subjects 
from  the  "  Commedia,"  as,  for  example,  Bernardo  Orcagna 
in  his  painting  in  the  Cappella  Strozzi  of  Santa  Maria 
Novella  in  Florence,  where  the  Malebolge  of  the  "  Inferno  " 
are  faithfully  depicted  according  to  Dante's  description. 

Italian  literature,  the  development  of  which  differs  in  so 
many  respects  from  the  other  modern  literatures,  has  also 
this  peculiarity,  that,  almost  at  its  outset,  it  produced  a  work 
of  such  capital  importance,  and  attained  a  height  it  was 
never  to  reach  again,  so  that  whatever  followed  may  be  said, 
in  a  measure,  to  refer  back  to  this  work.  The  whole  of 
Italian  literature  is  full  of  Dante ;  there  is  scarcely  a  single 
writer  of  importance  who  would  not,  in  one  way  or  another, 
lead  us  back  to  speak  of  Dante. 


APPENDIX   OF    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL 
AND   CRITICAL   NOTES 


AUTHOR'S   NOTE  TO  THE   ITALIAN   TRANSLATION 

(1887) 

THE  German  original  of  this  !>ook  was  Pf  Ji^^ed  in  Septer^^^^^ 
vear  1884,  though  the  title-page  bears  the  date  1S85,  i"  f.^f^'^'*^"^.,'''  ,, 
rreprehekble'custom  preWiling  --«"g  .^--^"  PfJ^^^^'^e  ,H^ 
be  well  for  the  Italian  reader  to  note  this,  so  that  he  ^ay  be  able  to 
j^^ge  of  the  priority  of  some  observations  which  occur  m  t^e  Ge  n^^^^^^ 
Edition  and  subsequently  appeared  m  other  books  as  well      It  is  almost 
superfluous  to  say  that  this  appendix  does  not  pretend  to  be  a  coniplete 
bibliography,  which  would,  indeed,  have  been  impossible  in  this  place 
fors^wtS^^  but  the  notes  are  intended  to  show  the  reader^^^^ 

road  followed  by  the  author.  ^    In  many  cases  only  the  lates   publication 
Lquo^edTor  a  certain  subject,  and  there  fuller  bib  -graphical  in^^^^^^^ 

tion  will  be  found.     For  the  same  reason  I  ^^.^^^^J^^^oTv  f  "  pea^ 
general  histories  of  Italian  literature  prior  to  this  one.     Only  1   appears 
Convenient  to  me  once  and  for  all  to  make  honourable  mention  mth^^^ 
place  of  the  works  of  Adolfo  Bartoli    since  I  shall  not  bavf  ^mother 
opportunity  of  speaking  of  them  collectively.      By  his      ^  "^^^»"^ 
secoli  della  letteratura  italiana  "  (completed  in  1880),  and  bis     btoria 
de  la  letteratura  italiana,"  of  which  six  volumes  -PPX^,^^^7|8V?78 
ind  1884  *   and  two  further  ones,  on  the  "  Commedia,     in  1887  and 
"889*   Bartoliachieved  the  great  distinctionofhaving 
j ects  foJ  the  first  time  in  a  really  scientific  manner.    It  is  natural  ha  these 
works    iust  because  they  were  the  first  of  their  kind  and  that  they 
Talt  wiih    o  vast  and  difficult  a  theme,  could  not  be  free  from  defects. 
But  thev  have  been  very  useful  to  students,  and  were  very  useful  to  me, 
foo      This  I  freely  an/ gratefully  acknowledge,  though  I  may  several 
times  have  to  differ  from  the  author  in  his  views  on  single  points. 

1  In  view  of  these  statements  and  of  the  fact  that  any  ^ff^^^  .^^X^/tlTe'S 
notes  of  a  critical  or  controversial  nature  wcnad  ^e  c..Urely  ou    of  P  ^ce,  %e  addi 
tions  to  the  bibliography  have,  m  the  mam,  ^«f "  ^'^J/f  ^^?f^^,  hor^^^^^      the  names 

—  Translator's  Note. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES 


Page  4  sqq.  For  the  studies  pursued  in  the  Middle  Ages  and 
the  Latin  Literature  in  Italy  at  this  period,  cf.  Muratori,  *' Antiq. 
Ital.,"  iii.  807  sqq.  ;  Tiraboschi,  "  Storia  della  lett.  ital."  (Firenze, 
1805-1813),  vols,  iii.,  iv.  ;  Giesebrecht,  "De  litterarum  studiis 
apud  Italos  primis  mediiasvi  s^culis,"  Berolini,  1845  ;  Comparetti, 
"  Virgilio  nel  medio  evo,"  vol.  i.,  Livorno,  1872,  *  second  edition, 
Firenze,  1896;  "Vergil  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  translated  by 
E.  F.  M.  Benecke,  London,  1895  *.  Koerting,  in  his  "Die  An- 
fange  der  Renaissancelitteratur  in  Italien,"  Leipzig,  1884,  does 
not  touch  this  subject ;  what  is  said  on  page  300  in  justification 
of  this  omission  appears  to  me  a  poor  excuse.  [Gius.  Savioli, 
"  L'istruzione  pubblica  in  Italia  nei  secoli  VIIL,  IX.,  X.,"  in  the 
"  Rivista  Europea,"  nuova  serie,  anno  X.,  t.  xiii.,  xiv.]  *  G. 
Grober,  "  Uebersicht  iiber  die  lateinische  Litteratur,  von  der 
Mitte  des  6.  Jahrhunderts  bis  1350,"  in  his  "  Grundriss  der 
roman.  Philologie,"  II.  i.  pp.  97-432,  Strassburg,  1893.  •^— E. 
Celesia's  "Storia  della  letteratura  in  Italia  nei  secoli  barbari," 
in  2  vols.,  Genova,  1882,  is  quite  useless. 

Page  2,  14  sqq.  The  sketch  of  the  development  of  the  com- 
munes and  of  the  political  condition  of  medieval  Italy  in  general 
is,  as  will  easily  be  seen,  based  on  C.  Hegel,  "  Geschichte  der 
Stadteverfassung  von  Italien,"  2  vols.,  Leipzig,  1847. 

Page  22.  For  the  literature  of  Monte  Cassino,  cf.  Petrus 
Diaconus,  "  De  viris  illustribus  casinensibus,"  ed.  B.  Mari, 
Lutetise  Paris,  1666  (also  Muratori,  "  Script.,"  vi.  9),  cap.  19  sqq. — 
For  the  Abbot  Desiderius,  cf.  Don  Andrea  Caravita,  "  I  codici 
e  le  arti  a  Monte  Cassino,"  especially  i.  1^0  sqq. ^  Monte  Cassino, 
1869  and  1870.  A  large  number  of  Alfanus'  poems  in  Ughelli, 
"  Italia  sacra  "  (Venetiis,  1722),  t.  x..  Appendix,  pp.  47-78,  and  in 
Giesebrecht,  op.  c/V.,  p.  37  sqq.,  where  also  his  classical  imitations 
are  to  be  found.  A  poem  by  Gaiferius  in  Tosti,  "  Storia  della 
Badia  di  Monte-Cassino,"  i.  414  sqq.,  Napoli,  1842.  Poems  by 
both  in  Ozanam,  "  Documents  inedits  pour  servir  k  I'hist.  litt. 
de  ritalie,"  p.  259  sqq.,  Paris,  1850.— Amatus,  published  by 
ChampoUion-Figeac,  "  L'ystoire  de  li  Normantpar  Aime,  moine 


336     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

de  Mont-Cassin,"  Paris,  1835.  For  Alberic,  cf.  Rockinger, 
"  Sitzungsber.  der  bayer.  Akad.  d.  W."  of  the  year  1861,  vol.  1. 
126  ;  the  two  writings  of  Alberic  mentioned  first  were  published 
by  Rockinger  in  "  Quellen  und  Erorterungen  zur  bayerischen 
und  deutschen  Geschichte,"  vol.  ix.,  Munchen,  1863.  The 
"Dictaminum  Radii"  are  not  yet  printed  ;  there  is  a  MS.  con- 
taining them  in  the  Breslau  University  Library,  IV.  Oct.  11. 

Page  30.  "Sancti  Petri  Damiani  Opera  Omnia,"  Bassani, 
1783.    Joseph  Kleinermann's  **  Der  heil.  Petrus  Damiani,"  Steyl, 

1882. 

Page  34.  "Anselmi  Opera,"  in  Migne,  "  Patrologia,"  ser. 
lat.,  t.  158,  159.  Ch.  de  Remusat,  **  Saint  Anselme  de  Cantor- 
b^ry,"  Paris,  1853.  , 

Page  36.  For  the  grammarians,  epistolaries  and  books  of 
formulas,  cf.  the  two  works  of  Rockinger  quoted  above,  and 
T.  Casini,  "La  coltura  bolognese dei secoli  XII  e  XIII,"  in  the 
"Giornale  storico  della  lett.  ital."  anno  i.,  vol.  i.,  p.  5  sqq. 

Page  38.  Ugo  Balzani,  *'  Early  Chroniclers  of  Europe,  Italy," 
London,  1883  [subsequently  published  also  in  Italian:  "Le 
cronache  italiane  nel  medio  evo,"  Milano,  1884],  is  very  in- 
adequate, just  for  this  period. 

Page  39.  [Sanzanome's  work  is  printed  also  in  the  "  Docu- 
menti  di  storia  italiana"  of  the  "  Deputazione  toscana  di  storia 
patria,"  Firenze,  1876.] 

Page  40.  What  is  the  origin  of  Boncompagno's  phrase 
designating  Italy  as  Domina  provinciarum^  a  phrase  recurring 
not  only  in  Dante,  but  also  in  Bono  Giamboni,  "  Introd.  alle 
virtu,"  cap.  47  ?  In  the  "  Corpus  Juris,"  where  one  might  feel 
inclined  to  look  for  it,  in  view  of  Boncompagno's  mode  of  ex- 
pressing himself,  it  does  not  occur,  as  a  distinguished  jurist  tells 
me.  It  is  based  on  the  circumstance  that,  in  the  Roman  Empire, 
Italy  was  not  a  province,  nor  subject  to  tribute.  At  a  later  date 
Lor.  Valla  said  in  the  "  De  Constantini  donatione"  (near  the 
beginning)  :  "  Donaret  praeterea  una  cum  Roma  Italiam^  non 
provinciam  sed  provinciarum  victricem.^^ 

Page  41.  [The  historical  poem  on  Barbarossa,  which  was 
recently  discovered  by  Monaci  in  a  Vatican  MS.  and  which  is 
said  to  be  printed  in  the  "Archivio  della  societk  romana  di 
storie  patria."  vol.  i.,  remained  inaccessible  to  me.]  For  a 
conjecture  made  concerning  the  author  (Taddeo  di  Roma)  by 
R.  Wenck,  cf.  "  Neues  Archiv  der  Gesellschaft  fiir  altere 
deutsche  Geschichtskunde,"  vol.  ix.  202,  and  x.  170 

P.  41.  The  poem  of  Henricus  Septimellensis  is  printed  in 
Leyser,  "  Historia  poetarum  et  poematum  medii  aevi,"  Halae 
Magdeb.,  1721,  p.  453  sqq.,  and  "  Henrici  Septimellensis  alias 
Sammariensis  Elegia  de  diversitate  fortunae  ex  mss.  Mediceo  et 
altero  cl.  et  illustr.  viri  A.  Magliabechii,"  no  place  or  date  ; 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL   NOTES      337 

here  the  poem  is  followed  by  a  "  Tractatus  de  septem  virtutibus." 
[Also  published  with  an  Italian  translation  by  Manni,  Firenze, 
1730  ;  and  "  Arrighetto,  ovvero  trattato  contro  all'  avversitk,  ecc. 
con  testo  latino,"  Milano,  1832.]  For  the  author,  cf.  Tiraboschi, 
iv.  429  sqq.  ;  C.  Milanesi,  "  II  Boezio  e  TArrighetto,"  p.  Iviii  sqq., 
and  p.  cxiii  sq.,  Firenze,  1864  ;  K.  Francke,  "  Zur  Geschichte  der 
latein.     Schulpoesie  des    12.  u.   13.  Jahrh.,"  p.  43,  Munchen, 

1879- 
Page  43.     The  passage  of  Boncompagno  against  the  gram- 
marians of  Orleans  is  at  the  beginning  of  the  "  Liber  decern 
tabularum,"  and  is  published  by  Delisle,  "  Annuaire-Bulletin  de 
la  societe  de  Thistoire  de  France,"  1869,  p.  152. 

Page  44.  On  the  character  of  Latin  poetry  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  see  the  excellent  observations  in  Comparetti,  "  Virgilio," 
i.  215  sqq.\  also  Pannenborg,  I.e.,  pp.  191-238,  and  Kuno 
Francke,  I.e. 

Page  45.  The  whole  of  Morandus'  poem  is  now  published 
by  Fr.  Novati,  "  Carmina  medii  asvi,"  p.  69,  Firenze,  Libreria 
Dante,  1883.  The  satire  attributed  to  Pier  della  Vigna  was  last 
published  by  Huillard-Breholles,  "Vie  et  correspondance  de 
Pierre  de  la  Vigne,"  p.  402  sqq.,  Paris,  1865.  The  poems  on  the 
victory  at  Parma  after  the  defeat  of  Frederick  II.  were  last 
published  in  "  Mon.  Germ.  Script."  t.  xviii.  For  two  rhythmical 
pieces  by  Riccardo  da  S.  Germano  in  his  chronicle,  cf.  Muratori, 
"  Script."  vii.  970  and  993.  Others  are  quoted  by  Giesebrecht, 
"  Die  Vaganten  oder  Goliarden  und  ihre  Lieder,"  in  "  Allgem. 
Monatsschrift  fiir  Wissensch.  und  Lit."  of  the  year  1853,  p.  41. 
Of  course,  there  was  a  number  of  rhythmical  poems  in  Italy 
before  this  time,  but  they  are  of  a  different  character.  It  should 
be  noted  that  the  well-known  piece,  "Viri  venerabiles,  viri 
litterati,"  which  appears  in  Wright,  "Walter  Mapes,"  p.  31,  as 
"  Praedicatio  Goliae,"  also  occurs  at  the  end  of  the  "  Pantheon," 
as  the  work  of  Godfrey  of  Viterbo,  "  Mon.  Germ.  Script.,"  xxii. 
P-  305- — That  the  Italians  took  little  or  no  part  in  the  Goliardic 
poetry  was  the  opinion  of  Giesebrecht,  I.e.  This  theory  having 
been  opposed  by  Burckhardt  and  Bartoli,  it  was  very  well 
defended  by  Alfredo  Straccali  :  "  I  Goliardi  ovvero  I  Clerici 
vagantes  delle  universitk  medioevali,"  Firenze,  1880;  but  the 
reasoning  by  which  he  accounts  for  the  absence  of  this  poetry 
appears  to  me  to  be  false.  Novati,  I.e.,  p.  9,  considers  the 
opinion  of  Giesebrecht  and  Straccali  to  be  immature,  till  the 
libraries  have  been  explored.  But  the  collection  of  Goliardic 
poems  which  he  gives  himself  is  very  small,  contains  no  pieces 
of  importance  (none  that  are  older  than  the  thirteenth  century), 
and  of  the  majority  it  cannot  even  be  said  whether  they  are  of 
Italian  origin.  *  A.  Gabrielli,  "  Su  la  poesia  dei  Goliardi,"  Citt^ 
di  Castello,  1889.  * 

I.  z 


338      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Page  46.  On  the  earliest  traces  of  Italian,  see  the  small 
but  instructive  treatise  of  L.  Morandi,  "Origine  della  lingua 
italiana,"  p.  51  sqq.^  Cittk  di  Castello,  1883.  Andrea  Gloria, 
"Del  volgare  illustre  dal  secolo  vii.  sino  a  Dante,"  Venezia, 
1880,  composed  imaginary  pieces  with  vulgar  words  taken  from 
Latin  documents,  in  order  to  show  how  rich  these  were  in 
elements  of  the  kind  ;  his  idea  that  a  "volgare  illustre"  can  be 
distinguished  for  those  early  times  appears  to  me  to  be  erro- 
neous. A  more  recent  work  of  Gloria's,  "  Volgare  illustre  nel 
1 100  e  Proverbi  volgari  del  1200,"  Venezia,  1885,  gives  alpha- 
betical lists  of  vulgar  words  from  Latin  documents  ;  here  again 
the  proof  for  the  existence  of  a  "volgare  illustre"  appears  to 
me  to  be  inadequate.  The  Sardinian  documents  of  the  twelfth 
century  in  Muratori,  "  De  origine  linguae  ital."  ("Antiq.  Ital.," 
ii.  105 1,  1053,  1059);  in  Pasq.  Tola,  "Codex  diplomaticus 
SardiniiE,"  i.  149,  etc.  ("Historiae  patriae  monumenta,"  t.  x., 
Augustae  Taurin.,  1861) ;  and  Stengel  in  "  Rivista  di  filologia 
romanza,"  i.  52  (cf.  ib.  123).  For  the  earliest  inscriptions,  which 
are  for  the  most  part  spurious  or  doubtful,  cf.  Baudi  di  Vesme, 
" Propugnatore,"  v.  i**,  p.  5  sqq.^  and  Di  Giovanni,  "Dell' 
uso  del  volgare  in  Sardegna  ed  in  Sicilia  nei  secoli  xii.  e  xiii.," 
Palermo,  1866  (reprinted  in  "  Filologia  e  letteratura,"  Palermo, 
1 871).  That  the  two  Sicilian  documents  which  were  supposed 
to  belong  to  the  twelfth  century,  belong  in  point  of  fact  to  the 
sixteenth,  was  shown  by  Bohmer,  "  Roman.  Studien,"  iii.  159 
sqq.  For  the  epitaph  in  the  church  of  S.  Giovanni  Battista  at 
Erice,  the  year  1000  was  a  forgery  for  1606,  as  was  pointed  out 
by  Antonio  Salinas,  "Giornale  storico  della  lett.  ital."  i.  508 
sq.  The  inscription  in  four  rhyming  verses,  formerly  in  the 
Duomo  of  Ferrara,  which  was  said  to  be  of  the  year  1135,  and 
concerning  whose  age  Tiraboschi  had  considerable  doubts,  is 
now  held  to  be  authentic  by  Monaci  ;  cf.  Morandi,  l.c.^  p.  63, 
where  are  also  printed  the  four  verses  on  a  victory  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Belluno,  composed  in  their  dialect,  which  belong 
to  the  year  1 196,  but  have  come  down  to  us  only  in  a  work  pub- 
lished in  1607.  *  For  the  earliest  monuments,  cf.  Monaci, 
"Crestomazia  italiana  dei  primi  secoli,"  Cittk  di  Castello,  1889, 
etc.  * 

Page  46  sqq.  For  the  "  Carte  di  Arborea"  cf.  the  opinion  of 
the  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences  in  the  "  Monatsberichte,"  p. 
64  sqq.^  1870  ;  Girolamo  Vitelli,  "Delle  carte  d'Arborea  e  delle 
poesie  in  esse  contenute,"  in  the  "Propugnatore,"  iii.  1°,  255 
sqq.^  and  2 ",  436  sqq.  ;  also  Bartoli,  "  Storia  della  lett.  ital.,"  ii. 
389  sqq.  With  Vitelli's  work  the  subject  was  really  exhausted. — 
For  the  "  Ritmo  cassinese,"  cf.  D'Ancona,  "  Propugnatore,"  vii. 
2°,  394  sqq.^  I.  Giorgi  and  G.  Navone  in  the  "  Riv.  di  fil.  rom.," 
ii. 91,  and  Bohmer,  "Rom.  Stud.,"  iii.  143  sqq. — (an  attempt  at 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND   CRITICAL   NOTES      339 

reconstructing  the  text,  at  times  arbitrary).     Monaci  wishes  to 
place  it  again  in  the  twelfth  century,  cf.  Morandi,  I.e.,  p.  65  ;  his 
reasons  have  yet  to  be  given. — Now  that  the  text  of  my  work 
has  been  printed,  I  receive  the  important  work  of  Fr.  Novati, 
"II  Ritmo  cassinese  e  le  sue  interpretazioni,"  in  "Miscellanea 
di   filologia   e   linguistica,   in   memoria  di    N.    Caix   e   U.   A. 
Canello,"  p.  375  sqq..,  Firenze,   1886.     Here  it  is  proved  very 
plainly  that  the   interpretations  of  the  "Ritmo"  hitherto  at- 
tempted are  impossible,  and  a  very  acute  conjecture  is  made  as 
to  its  true  meaning,  which  fits  in  with  the  words,  so  far  as  it  is 
possible  to  understand  them.     Novati  thinks  that  the  end  of  the 
work  is  missing,  and  that  the  narrative  of  the  man  from  the 
East  and  of  the  man  from  the  West  is  allegorical,  the  former 
being  the  symbol  of  celestial,  and  the  latter  that  of  earthly  life, 
so  that  we  have  the  ordinary  doctrine  of  asceticism — contempt 
of  the  world  for  the  attainment  of  Paradise.— An  Italian  poem, 
smgular  in  character  and  composed,  so  it  is  said,  as  early  as 
in  the  twelfth  century,  is  contained  in  a  MS.  of  the  Laurenziana 
(Plut.  XV.  cod.  V.)  and  was  therefore  called  the  "Ritmo  lauren- 
ziano."     It  is  the  panegyric  of  a  bishop,  in  sets  of  verses  of  seven 
syllables  with  a  single  rhyme,  and  is  for  the  greater  part  unin- 
telligible.    It  was  published  by  Bandini  in  his  catalogue  of  the 
MSS.    Laurenz.,   iv.  468   sqq.,   and   recently,   in    facsimile,   in 
Monaci's  "Archivio  Paleografico,"  vol.  i.,  fasc.  2°,  No.  17,  with 
a  note  by  Novati,  who  promised  to  treat  the  subject  more  fully 
*  F.  Novati,  "Studi  critici,"  Torino,  1889.     E.  Monaci,  "  Suir 
antich.  cantilena  giullaresca,"  etc.,  Roma,  1892.  *— For  Messer 
Folcacchieri,    cf.    Curzio    Mazzi,   "  Folcacchiero    Folcacchieri 
rimatore  senese  del  sec.  xiii.,  per  nozze  Banchi-Brini,"  Firenze, 
1878,  and  A.  Borgognoni,  "Studi  d'erudizione  e  d'arte,"  ii.  2og- 
216,  Bologna,  1878. 

Page  48.  In  certain  annalistic  notices  on  Florence  in  a 
Vatican  MS.  of  the  twelfth  century,  under  the  year  1147,  the 
copyist  has  added  some  verses.  The  last  of  these  appears  to  be 
Italian  :  "  Male  de  oculis  famuli  maris."  For  these  cf.  Hartwig, 
"  Quell,  und  Forsch.,"  ii.  p.  4,  Halle,  1880,  and  now  in  heliotype 
m  Monaci's  "Archivio  paleografico  italiano,"  fasc.  i.,  tav.  7, 
Roma,  1882.  The  question  arose  as  to  whether  it  was  a  popular 
song.  Lamis's  conjecture,  repeated  by  Hartwig,  that  it  con- 
tained traces  of  a  composition  subsequently  quoted  by  Boccaccio, 
appears  to  me  to  be  without  foundation.  R.  Kade,  "Ein 
Augensegen,"  in  the  "  Neues  Archiv  der  Gesellschaft  fiir  altere 
Geschichtskunde,"  vol.  x.,  p.  186  sqq.,  1885,  fo"nd  these  words 
again  at  the  end  of  a  form  of  blessing  for  diseases  of  the  eyes, 
and  in  this  case  they  are  obviously  Latin  :  "  Non  ambulemus' 
sed  doleamus  maculam  famuli  dei."  The  corruption  in  the 
Vatican  MS.,  which  shows  the  influence  of  the  Italian,  is  re- 


340     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

markable,  but  I  do  not  on  that  account  believe  that  the  copyist 
had  in  mind  the  popular  poem  quoted  by  Boccaccio,  as  Kade 

supposes. 

Page  51.  Gius.  Cerrato,  "II  bel  cavahere  di  Rambaldo  di 
Vaqueiras,"  in  the  "  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  iv.  80^^^.,  tried  to 
show  that  Beatrice  was  not  the  sister  of  the  Marchese  Bonifacio, 
as  the  Provencal  biography  declares,  but  his  daughter.  Giosu^ 
Carducci  accepted  this  opinion,  in  his  essay,  "  Galanterie  caval- 
leresche  del  secolo  xii.  e  xiii."  ("  Nuova  Antologia,"  i«.  gennaio, 
1885,  p.  5  sgq.  Still,  the  matter  remains  doubtful,  cf.  P.  Meyer 
in  "  Romania,"  xiv.  614. — That  Emilia  da  Ravenna  was  the  wife 
of  Pietro  Traversari  (Imilia  dei  conti  Guidi)  was  held  by  Casini, 
"  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital,"  ii.  400,  and  "  Propugnatore,"  xviii.  1°, 
p.  150,  note  2.  O.  Schultz,  "Ztsch.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  ix.  117,  note  3, 
says  that  though,  it  is  true,  the  identity  cannot  be  proved,  it  is 
nevertheless  very  probable  ;  the  troubadours  certainly  spoke  of 
a  lady  of  exalted  position,  and  Pietro  Traversari  was  lord  of 

Ravenna. 

Page  52.  Note  that  Peire  Vidal  calls  the  kingdom  which  he 
requests  Richard  Coeur-de-Lion  to  conquer  that  of  Palermo 
and  Risa— namely,  Reggio  ;  instead  of  the  Frisa  in  Bartsch, 
we  must  read  Risa,  the  usual  name  in  the  old  poems  of  chivalry 
for  Reggio  in  Calabria.— For  Peire  de  la  Cavarana  or  Caravana, 
cf.  Canello,  "  Giorn.  di  fil.  rom.,"  iii.  2,  i  sgq.,  and  O.  Schultz,  in 
the  "  Zeitschf.  fiir  rom.  Phil.,"  vii.  182  sgq.  ;  also  Casini,  "  Giorn. 
stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  ii.  396  j^.— That  the  poem  of  Uc  de  S.  Circ  was 
composed  in  1240,  during  the  siege  of  Faenza  by  Frederick  II., 
was  well  shown  by  N.  Zingarelli,  "  Un  serventese  di  Ugo  di  Sain 
Circ  "  (in  the  "  Miscellanea  Caix-Canello,"  p.  243  sqq.).  He  gave 
a  critical  text  of  the  poem  and  identified  the  greater  part  of  the 
persons  named  in  it ;  cf.  also  T.  Casini  in  the  "  Propugnatore," 
xviii.  1%  p.  176  sqq.  Ser  Ugolino  might  also  be  the  poet 
Ugolino  Buzzuola,  who  belonged  to  the  family  of  the  Alber- 
ghetti,  one  of  great  authority  in  Faenza,  and  was  called  pracipuus 
of  that  family  by  Salimbene  in  1250. 

Page  53.  Giosu^  Carducci  conjectured  ("  Nuova  Antologia," 
January  loth,  1885,  p.  7)  that  Rambaldo's  dialogue  with  the 
Genoese  lady  was  an  imitation  of  a  poetic  genre  general  m 
Italy  even  at  that  early  time,  seeing  that  such  dialogues  between 
a  man  and  a  lady,  the  latter  hesitating  and  the  former  pressing, 
were  at  that  period  frequent  with  the  Italians,  and  rare  in 
Provence. 

Page  53.    That  the  love  tenzone  "Dona  a  vos  me  comen 
has  to  be  attributed  to  Alberto   Malaspina,  as  is  done  by 
Raynouard,   and   not   to  Albert  de   Sestaro   (Bartsch's   view), 
appears  from  the  fact  that  the  lady  at  the  end  calls  her  inter- 
locutor marchese. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      34I 

Page  54.  The  connection  of  Blacatz'  plank  with  "  Purg."  vii. 
88  sqq.  was  pointed  out  by  Monaci,  "  Riv.  di  fil.  rom."  i.  198  note. 
On  the  Italians,  in  general,  who  composed  poetry  in  Provencal, 
we  have  now  the  excellent  treatise  of  O.  Schultz,  "  Die  Lebens- 
verhaltnisse  der  ital.  Trobadors,"  in  the  "  Ztsch.  f.  rom.  Phil.," 
vii.  177  sqq.,  and  also  ib.  ix.  117  note,  and  406  j^'^^.  Cf.  also 
Casini,  in  the  "  Giorn.  stor.  della  lett.  ital.,"  ii.  399  sqq.  Of  one 
of  the  poets  we  have  a  critical  edition,  "Der  Troubadour 
Bertolome  Zorzi,"  edited  by  E.  Levy,  Halle,  1883.  The  editions 
of  Casini,  "  Le  rime  provenzali  di  Rambertino  Buvalelli,"  Firenze, 
1855,  and  "I  trovatori  nella  Marca  Trivigiana"  in  the  "Pro- 
pugnatore," xviii.  1°,  p.  149  sqq.,  are  very  defective.  *  P.  G. 
Palazzi,  "  Le  Poesie  inedite  di  Sordello,"  in  the  "  Atti  del  reale 
Istituto  Veneto  di  scienze,"  etc.,  1885,  tomo  v.,  serie  6,  pp.  145 1- 
1509;  C.  Merkel,  "Sordello  e  la  sua  dimora  presso  Carlo  I. 
d'Angio,"  Torino,  1890;  Cesare  de  Lollis,  "Vita  e  poesie  di 
Sordello  di  Goito,"  Halle,  1896;  the  same,  "Pro  Sordello  de 
Godio,  milite,"  in  the  "  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  1897,  xxx.  125. — 
M.  Pelaez,  "  Bonifazio  Calvo,"  in  the  "  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.," 
xxviii.  I  sqq.,  and  xxix.  318  sqq.  (life,  poems,  etc.).  * 

Page  55.  It  is  true,  however,  that  Levy  distinguished  certain 
Italian  idiocisms  in  Zorzi ;  others  were  found  by  Chabaneau, 
"Revue  des  langues  rom.,"  3®  s.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  196.  The  sub- 
junctives of  the  first  conjugation  in  a  are  common  also  to  the 
Venetian  and  Paduan  dialects. 

Page  56.  The  MSS.  give  the  collection  of  the  so-called 
letters  of  Pier  della  Vigna  in  numbers  and  in  an  order  that 
vary  considerably.  Cf.  Huillard-Breholles,  "Vie  et  correspond- 
ance  de  Pierre  de  la  Vigne,"  p.  249  sqq.,  Paris,  1865.  I  used 
the  edition  of  Schardius,  "  Epistolarum  Petri  de  Vineis  libri  VI.," 
Basilea,  1566,  which,  like  all  the  old  editions,  gives  only  the  one 
form  of  the  collection.  Many  of  the  most  interesting  letters 
were  published  from  the  MSS.  by  Huillard-Breholles,  I.e.,  p.  289. 

Page  57.  For  the  court  of  Frederick  II.,  cf.  Huillard-Bre- 
holles, in  the  book  just  quoted,  and  "Hist.  Dipl.  Frid.  II.,"  vol. 
i.,  p.  clxxvii.  sqq.,  cxciv.,  etc.,  Paris,  1839.  For  the  translations 
from  the  Greek,  Arabic,  and  Hebrew  made  under  Frederick  II., 
his  predecessors  and  successors,  cf.  now  especially  O.  Hartwig, 
"  Die  Uebersetzungsliteratur  Unteritaliens  in  der  normannisch- 
staufischen  Epoche,"  in  the  "  Centralblatt  fiir  Bibliothekswesen," 
March,  1886. 

Pages  58  sqq.  For  the  earliest  Italian  text,  cf.  A  Bartoli, 
"  I  primi  due  secoli  della  letteratura  italiana,"  Milano,  1880 
(published  since  1871  in  parts);  the  same,  "  Storia  della  let- 
teratura italiana,"  vol.  ii.,  Firenze,  1879.  A.  Gaspary,  "  Die 
Sicilianische  Dichterschule  des  13.  Jahrh.,"BerHn,  1878  ;  in  the 
Italian  version,  "La  scuola ^poetica  siciliana  del  secolo  xiii.," 


aatei'i!.-":'"-*^!'*-'*^-'"'^"'*-.'-  a-DMjamtttsiiia 


342      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

translated  by  S.  Friedmann,  Livorno,  1882.  Collections  of  the 
poems  :  "  Poeti  del  primo  seoolo  della  lingua  italiana"  (ed.  by 
Valeriani  and  Lampredi),  2  vols.,  Firenze,  1816.  "Raccolta  di 
rime  antiche  toscane"  (ed.  by  the  Marchese  Villarosa),  4  vols., 
Palermo,  181 7.  Trucchi,  "  Poesie  italiane  inedite,"  4  vols., 
Prato,  1846.  Nannucci,  "  Manuale  della  letteratura  del  primo 
secolo,"  2*  ed.,  Firenze,  1856  [3*  ed.,  ih.  1878].  D'Ancona  e  Com- 
paretti,  "  Le  antiche  rime  volgari  secondo  la  lezione  del  cod.  vat. 
3793,"  vol.  i.,  Bologna,   1875;  ii.  ib.  1881,  iii.   1884;  iv.  1886; 

*  v.,  con  aggiunta  di  annotazioni  criticbe  del  prof.  T.  Casini, 
1888.  -Jf  The  MS.  Chigi,  published  by  Monaci  and  Molteni  : 
"II  canzoniere  Chigiano,  L.  viii.  305,"  Bologna,  1877.  The 
publication  of  the  Cod.  Palatino  418,  begun  by  Bartoli  and 
Casini  in  the  "  Propugnatore,'"'  xiv.,  continued  in  xvii.  and  xviii. 
The  publication  of  the  Cod.  Laurenziano,  9.  63,  begun  by  Casini, 
"Testi  inediti  di  antiche  rime  volgari,"  vol.  i.,  Bologna,  1883. 

*  Monaci,  "  Crestomazia  italiana  dei  primi  secoli  con  prospetto 
delle  flessioni  grammaticali  e  glossario,"  per  Ernesto  Monaci, 
Citt5.  di  Castello,  fasc.  primo,  1889,  fasc.  secondo,  1897.  The 
"  Manuali  "  of  F.  Torraca  (2nd  ed.,  Firenze,  1886-87),  of  T. 
Casini,  (2nd  ed.,  Firenze,  1891),  and  of  D'Ancona  and  Bacci 
(Firenze,  1892-94).  R.  Fornaciari,  "La  letteratura  italiana  nei 
primi  quattro  secoli"  (xiii.-xvi.),  Firenze,  1885, — A.  Zenatti, 
"Arrigo  Testa  e  i  primordi  della  lirica  italiana,"  Lucca,   1889. 

E.  Monaci,  "  Di  una  recente  dissertazione  su  Arrigo  Testa," 
Roma,  1889.  L.  Goldschmidt,  "  Die  Doktrin  der  Liebe  bei  den 
italianischen  Lyrikern  des  13.  Jahrhunderts,"  Breslau,  1889. 
G.  A.  Cesareo,  "  La  poesia  siciliana  sotto  gli  Svevi,"  Catania, 
1894.  G.  A.  Cesareo,  "  Le  origini  della  poesia  lirica  in  Italia," 
1899. — L.  Biadene,  "  Indice  delle  canzoni  italiani  del  secolo 
xiii.,"  Asolo,  1896.— L.  Frati,  "Ranieri  da  Palermo,"  in  the 
"Giorn.  stor.  della  lett.  ital.,"  xi.  125.  F.  Torraca,  "II  notaro 
Giacomo  da  Lentini,"  in  the  "  Nuova  A.ntologia,"  Oct.   i,  1894. 

F.  Scandone,  "  Appunti  biografici  sui  due  rimatori  della  scuola 
siciliana Rinaldo  e Jacopo  di  casa  d' Aquino," Napoli,  1 897.  *— For 
other  bibliographical  matter  see  the  books  quoted  in  d'Ancona, 
Bartoli  and  Gaspary,  and  for  the  bibliography  of  the  entire  early 
period,  cf.  Fr.  Zambrini,  "  Le  opere  volgari  a  stampa  dei 
secoli  xiii.  e  xiv.,"  4th  edition,  Bologna,  1878  [appeared  again  as 
"fourth  edition,"  with  an  appendix,  Bologna,  1884]. 

Page  58,  E.  Monaci,  "  Sui  primordi  della  scuola  poetica 
siciliana  "("  Nuova  Antologia,"  August  15th,  1884),  tried  to  show 
that  the  court  poetry  in  the  vulgar  tongue  must  have  been  cul- 
tivated in  Bologna  earlier  than  in  Sicily.  It  appears  to  me,  how- 
ever, that  there  is  not  sufficient  proof  in  favour  of  this  hypothesis ; 
cf.  "  Literaturbl.  f.  germ.  u.  rom.  Phil.,"  p.  442  sqq.,  1884. 

Page  63.    That  lyrical  poetry  was  always  destined  for  music  is 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      343 

well  known.  Of  this  relation  to  music  Dante  speaks  in  the  "  De 
Vulg.  El."  In  the  Cod.  Vat.  3214,  the  poem  of  Lemmo  Orlandi, 
"  Lontana  dimoranza  "  (No.  139)  has  the  note,  "  Et  Caselladiede 
il  suono" — this  being  the  famous  composer  celebrated  by  Dante 
in  the  "  Purgatorio."  In  the  same  MS.  a  poem  by  Lapo  degli 
Uberti,  "  Gentil  mia  donna,  la  virtu  d'amore"  (No.  148)  is 
marked  :  "  E  Mino  d'Arezzo  diede  la  nota  ;"  this  composer  is 
known  through  Boccaccio,  "Decam.,"  x.  7.  In.  "  Purg."  ii.  112, 
Casella  sings  Dante's  philosophico-allegorical  canzone,  "  Amor 
che  nella  mente  mi  ragiona."  Inthefourteenth  century  composers 
are  often  mentioned  by  name.  At  how  late  a  period  Petrarch's 
sonnet  "  Pace  non  trovo,"  for  example,  was  still  sung,  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  a  fifteenth  century  laiida  designates  it  as  its 
melody  ;  cf.  D'Ancona,  "  La  poesia  popolare  italiana,"  p.  435, 
Livorno,  1878. 

Page  64.  It  appeared  to  Diez,  "  Altromanische  Sprachdenk- 
male,"  p.  100,  Bonn,  1846,  that  the  Italian  verse  of  eleven 
syllables  was  historically  related  to  the  Provengal  verse  of  ten 
syllables,  in  spite  of  the  differences  between  them.  Rajna,  "  Le 
origini  dell'  epopea  francese,"  p.  515  sqq.^  Firenze,  1884,  thinks 
that  it  certainly  has  its  origin  in  France.  His  arguments  do  not 
appear  to  me  to  be  entirely  convincing.  *  Fr.  D'Ovidio,  "  SuU' 
origine  dei  versi  italiani,"  in  the  "Giorn  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  1898, 
xxxii.  p.  I  sqq.  G.  Lisio,  "  Studio  sulla  forma  metrica  della 
canzone  italiana  nel  secolo  xiii."  Imola,  1895.  * 

Page  64.  That  the  sonnet  is  nothing  but  one  of  the  stanzas  of 
a  canzone  was  first  maintained  by  Witte  in  1825  ;  after  this, 
cf.  Blanc,  "Gram,  der  ital.  Sprache,"  p.  770,  sqq.^  Halle,  1844, 
and  Mussafia,  "Cinque  sonetti  antichi,"  in  the  "Sitzungs- 
berichte"  of  the  Viennese  Academy  of  Sciences,  Philos.-Hist. 
Class,  76,  380.  Casini,  "  Notizia  sulle  forme  metriche  italiane," 
p.  37,  Firenze,  1884,  quoted  a  canzone  (by  Guittone),  the  stanzas 
of  which  have  actually  the  form  of  sonnets.  One  by  Jacopone 
da  Todi,  "  Chi  ne  saria  credente  udendo  dire "  (published  by 
Sorio,  "  Opuscoli  religiosi  di  Modena,"  ser.  ii.,  t.  iii.)  illustrates 
this  still  better,  being  in  verses  of  eleven  syllables.  A.  Borgog- 
noni,  in  the  "  Nuova  Antologia,"  ser.  ii.,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  243  sqq.^ 
1879,  wished  to  derive  the  sonnet  from  the  ballad  stanza  with 
repeated  refrain,  which  is  very  unnecessary  ;  to  begin  with,  are 
there  any  ballads  in  which  the  volta  is  so  short  in  proportion  to 
the  mutations  ?  The  parallel  with  the  Provencal  coblas  esparsas 
was  drawn  by  Tobler  in  the  "  Jenaer  Literaturzeitung,"  1878,  No. 
47,  p.  669. — H.  Welti,  "  Gesch.  des  Sonettes  in  der  deutsch. 
Dichtung,"  p.  33  sqq.^  Leipzig,  1884,  rejects  Witte's  explanation, 
and  decides  in  favour  of  D'Ancona's,  who  attributes  a  popular 
origin  to  the  sonnet.  So,  too,  Morpurgo,  "  Riv.  crit.  d.  lett. 
ital.,"  i.,  No.  4,  p.  103,  who,  with  a  view  to  supporting  this  theory, 


344      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

observes  that,  at  the  beginning,  the  order  of  rhymes  ob- 
served in  the  sonnet  was  a  b  a  b.  This  observation  was  not 
new  (cf.  "  Scuola  poetica  siciliana,"  p.  i68,  noie)^  and  does  it 
prove  what  Morpurgo  wishes  ?  Is  it  impossible  for  the  stanza  of 
a  canzone  to  have  the  order  a  b  a  b}  *  A  Foresti,  "  Nuove 
osservazioni  intomo  all'  origine  ed  alle  varietk  metriche  del 
sonetto  nei  secoli  xiii.  e  xiv/'  (estr.  dal  vol.  xii.  degli  Atti  dell' 
Ateneo  di  Bergamo),  Bergamo,  1895.  * 

Page  65.  The  name  Discordo  for  this  metrical  genre  is  found 
as  early  as  in  the  "Cod.  Rediano,"  No.  no.  For  the  Provencal 
laysy  cf.  P.  Meyer,  "  Le  roman  de  Flamenca,"  p.  279,  note  i, 
Paris,  1865,  and  the  lays  published  by  Bartsch,  "  Zeitschr.  f. 
rom.  Phil.,"  i.  61  sqq. 

Page  66.  An  admirable  exposition  of  the  early  poetic  language, 
according  to  the  MSS.,  by  N.  Caix,  "  Le  Origini  della  lingua 
italiana,"  Firenze,  1880.  For  the  dispute  concerning  the  language 
of  the  Sicilian  poems,  cf.  the  literature  quoted  by  Gaspary,  "  La 
scuola  poetica,"  p.  180,  sqq.\  moreover,  Bartoli,  *'Stor.  lett. 
ital.,"  ii.  175  sqq.  M.  Ardizzone,  *'  Delia  lingua  in  cui  composero 
i  poeti  siciliani  del  sec.  xiii.,"  Palermo,  1882  (insignificant). 
Di  Giovanni,  "  Del  volgare  usato  da'  primi  poeti  siciliani  ;  Dis- 
corso  letto  alia  R.  Accademia  di  scienze  e  lettere  di  Palermo," 
June,  1879  [reprinted  in  "  Fil.  e  lett.  Sicil.,"  iii.].  C.  Avolio, 
"  La  questione  delle  rime  nei  poeti  siciliani  del  secolo  xiii.,"  in 
"  Misc.  Caix  e  Canello,"  p.  237  sqq.^  wishes  to  show  that  the 
non-Sicilian  rhymes  can  be  explained  by  the  aid  of  the  ancient 
pronunciation  of  the  dialect.     He  has  not  convinced  me. 

Page  67.  For  the  traces  of  a  more  original  type  of  poetry 
among  the  Sicilians,  cf.  an  interesting  article  by  G.  Salvadori, 
"  Prima  di  Dante,"  in  the  "  Fanfulla  della  Domenica,"  Roma, 
September  loth,  1882,  which,  however,  is  not  free  from 
e.xaggeration. 

Page  71.  Monaci,  in  his  "Arch,  paleografico  ital.,"  Roma,  1882, 
has,  on  tav.  8-10,  had  the  whole  of  the  "Rosa  fresca"  repro- 
duced in  heliotype  ;  on  tav.  1 1  the  page  in  question  of  Colocci's 
index  ;  and  on  tav.  12-14  the  passage  in  Colocci's  papers,  where 
the  poem  is  quoted  and  the  poet  mentioned.  In  the  "Notizie" 
Monaci  showed  that  the  name  Ciulo  is  due  only  to  Ubaldini's 
mistake,  and  also  that  Allacci  was  acquainted  with  no  MS.  save 
that  of  the  Vatican.  Still,  Monaci  thinks  that  Colocci  had  seen 
another  MS.,  and,  perhaps,  found  the  name,  Cielo  dal  Ca??io 
in  it.  That  is  possible,  but  by  no  means  certain,  and  may  we 
accept  the  testimony  concerning  the  name  from  such  an  un- 
critical age,  without  knowing  the  nature  of  the  source  from 
which  it  is  derived  ?  Could  not  Colocci  have  been  mistaken  as 
Ubaldini  was,  and  even  to  a  greater  extent  ?  For  the  poem 
itself,  and  for  everything  that  has  been  written  concerning  it, 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      345 

cf.  D'Ancona,  "Antiche  Rime  Volgari,"  i.,  pp.  165-377,  re- 
printed in  D'Ancona's  "  Studi  sulla  lett.  ital.  de'  primi  secoli," 
Ancona,  1884,  where  the  Appendix,  p.  386  sqq.^  carries  the 
further  history  of  the  controversy  down  to  more  recent  times. — 
For  the  metre  of  the  poem,  besides  what  Monaci  wrote  on  it  in 
the  "  Riv.  di  fil.  rom.,"  ii.  113  sqq.,  cf.  now  Mussafia,  "  Ein 
altneapolitanisches  Regimen  Sanitatis,"  p.  49  sqq.  (from  the 
"  Sitzungsber."  of  the  Academy,  vol.  106),  Wien,  1884,  and 
Percopo,  "  IV.  poemetti  sacri  dei  sec.  xiv.  e  xv.,"  p.  xix.  sqq., 
Bologna,  1885. — For  the  rest,  the  flood  of  writings  on  the 
"  Rosa  fresca  "  and  its  author  has  not  ceased  since  D'Ancona's 
last  publication.  Di  Giovanni,  "  Ciulo  d'Alcamo,  la  Defensa, 
ecc,  anteriori  alle  costituzioni  del  regno  del  1231,"  Bologna, 
1884  (from  the  "  Propugnatore,"  vol.  xvii.).  Casini  repHed  in 
the  "Riv.  crit.,"  i.,  No.  v.,  p.  144  sq.  Di  Giovanni  again,  "La 
defensa  e  il  diritto  nuovo  nelle  costituzioni  del  regno  del  1231," 
Bologna,  1885  (from  the  "  Propugnatore,"  vol.  xviii.),  which 
seemed  to  me  to  be  of  greater  weight  and  importance. 
C.  Cipolla,  "  Una  quistione  paleografica,"  in  the  "  Giorn.  stor. 
d.  lett.  ital.,"  iv.  389,  concludes  that  the  reading  "Cielo"  is 
beyond  doubt,  and  "D'Alcamo"  highly  probable.  I  do  not 
mention  other  snort  treatises  of  small  moment.  *  Paul  Marchot, 
"  Sur  le  *  contraste '  de  Cielo  Dalcamo,"  in  the  "  Giorn.  stor.  d. 
lett.  ital.,"  1897,  XXX.,  p.  208.  * 

Page  75.  Biographical  notes  to  the  poets  of  Tuscany  and 
Romagna:  Buonagiunta  di  Riccomo  Orbicciani  degli  Overardi 
occurs  in  a  document  of  May  i8th,  1295,  and  in  one  of  December 
6th,  1296;  cf.  Carlo  Minutoli  in  "Dante  eil  suo  secolo,"  p.  223, 
Firenze,  1865.  *  S.  Pieri's  critical  edition  of  Buonagiunta's 
poems  has  long  been  printed  (Bologna,  Zanichelli),  but  is 
apparently  not  yet  published.  *  There  is  a  "Gallus  judex 
agnelli"  among  the  Pisan  legates  to  the  Council  of  Lyons, 
1275  ;  cf.  Muratori,  "Script,"  xxiv.  682.— Of  Ugolino  Buzzuola 
we  have  only  one  sonnet  in  the  literary  tongue,  and  one  in 
the  dialect  of  Romagna  ("  Ocli  del  conte  ondeo  mender  nego  ") 
contained,  as  the  last  but  one,  in  the  Cod.  Vat.  3214,  and 
published  by  Crescimbeni,  "  Istoria  della  Volgar  Poesia," 
Venezia,  1730,  iii.  80,  and  by  Grion,  "Pozzo  di  S.  Patrizio," 
Bologna,  1870,  (p.  24).  Andrea  Zannoni,  quoted  by  Giuliani, 
"Opere  latine  di  Dante,"  i.  137,  Firenze,  1878,  is  said  to  have 
proved  that  Dante's  "Bucciola"  is  only  additional  name  of 
Ugolino,  and  in  no  way  connected  with  Tommaso.  Salim 
bene  mentions  Hugolinus  Buzola  under  the  year  1250  diSprcB- 
ciptius  in  the  family  of  the  Alberghetti,  p.  184.  Francesco  da 
Barberino  quotes  two  verses  of  Ugolino  Bozuola  in  the  "  Reggi- 
mento,"  i.  3,  and,  in  the  commentary  to  the  "Documenti  d'amore," 
he  says  that  he  knew  him  personally,  and  speaks  of  an  Italian 


346      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 


33  sag.,  and  in  the  "  Propugnatore,"  N.  S.  i,  i-  "S  sqq      L. 
Frati,  "Paolo  Zoppo,"  in  the  "Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital,"  xi. 

Paee  17  The  two  Provencal  sonnets  of  Dante  da  Majano 
are  printed  in  the  "  Archiv  fur  d.  Studium  der  neueren  Sprachen," 
xxxiii  411.  One  of  them  also  in  Bartsch,  "  Chrestom.  Pro- 
vencale,"  ed.  4,  P-  3^9,  and  in  Nannucci  "  Man.,"  1.  526.  For 
the  fact  that   Lanfranchi's   poem,   *' Valenz   senher  reis   dels 


tried  to  show  that  the  whole  of  Dante  da  Majano,  with  his 
Provencal   and    Italian   poems,   was   a  forgery.      Fr.    Nov^ati, 
"Dante   da   Majano   ed   Adolfo   Borgognoni,'   Ancona,   ib«3, 
showed  that  his  reasoning  was  very  defective,  and  proved  by 
documents  that  a  Dante  da  Majano  really  lived  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fourteenth  century.     Against  Novati :  LA.  Borgog- 
noni, "  La  questione  majanesca  o  Dante  da  Majano,    Citta  di 
Castello,  1885].    *  Ranieri  Ajazzi,  "  Dante  da  Majano,"  Firenze, 
i8qo.     Giovanni   Bertacchi,   "Le  rime  di  Dante  da   Majano, 
ristampate   ed   illustrate,"  Bergamo,    1896.  *-For  the  object 
with  which  the  "  Donatz  proensal"  was  composed,  cf  Stengel, 
"Die  beiden  altesten  prov.  Grammatiken,"  p.  131,  Marburg, 
1878,  and  D'Ovidio  in  the  "Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital,"  11.  i  sqq. 
Also  P.   Merlo,  ib.,  iii.   218  sqq.,  and  Grober,      Ztsch.  f.  rom. 
Phil  "  viii.  112  sqq.     For  the  persons  to  whom  the  book  is 
dedicated,  Jacobus  de  Morra  and  Corradutius  de  Sterletto,  cf. 
the  note  of  Scheffer-Boichorst,  "Ztsch.  f.  rom.  Phil,"  viii.  290 
sag.     The  name  of  the  author,  Uc  Faidit,  appears  to  be  beyond 
doubt  since  it  was  found  also  in  the  MS.  Landau,  published  by 
Biadene,  "  Studi  di  fil.  rom.,"  i.  353— The  poetical  version  of 
the  "Razos"  by  Terramagnino   is  published  in      Romania, 

viii.  184  sqq.  v     1     ■     1 

Page  11.  It  is  not  quite  correct  to  say  that  the  lyrical  poets 
of  the  South  were  unacquainted  with  the  disputes  between 
several  poets.  Two  tenzoni  between  Southern  poets  have  now 
been  found.  The  one,  between  Pier  della  Vigna,  Jacopo  da 
Lentini,  and  Jacopo  Mostacci  da  Pisa,  which  deals  with^  the 
reality  or  unreality  of  love,  was  discussed  by  Monaci,  bin 
primordi  della  scuola  poetica  siciliana,"  Roma,  1884  (from  the 
"  Nuova  Antologia  "  of  August  1 5th,  p.  6).  The  other  (printed 
in  D'Ancona's  "  Antiche  rime  volgari,"  vol.  rv  Nos.  326-330) 
consists  of  five  sonnets,  between  the  Abate  di  Tiboli  and  Jacopo 
da  Lentini,  treating  of  the  deity  of  love,  which  is  denied  by 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL   NOTES      347 

Jacopo.  The  first  sonnet  of  the  Abate  di  Tiboli  contains  a 
verse,  "  E  son  montato  per  le  quatro  scale,"  which  alludes  to 
the  canrone  of  Guiraut  di  Calanso  on  the  allegory  of  love  ("  A 
leis  cui  am  de  cor "),  stanza  4  :  "  E  poiai  hom  per  quatre  gras 
mout  les,"  a  canzone  which  was  known  also  to  Guido  Caval- 
canti.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  rhymes  of  the  sonnets  in 
these  two  tenzoni  do  not  correspond. 

Page  80.  The  name  Canzone  quivoca  or  quivica  occurs  in 
the  MS.  Rediano.  Antonio  da  Tempo  deals  with  this  species 
of  rhyme,  on  pp.  160  sqq.  in  the  edition  of  Grion  ("  Delle  rime  vol- 
gari, Trattato  di  Antonio  da  Tempo,"  Bologna,  1869).  Gidino 
da  Sommacampagna  ("  Trattato  dei  ritmi  volgari,"  edited  by 
Giuliari,  Bologna,  1870),  discusses  the  sonetti  equivoci,  p.  171  sqq. 

Page  83.  The  political  sonnets  of  the  Florentine  notaries!  n 
the  Vatican  MS.  3793,  partly  published  by  Trucchi,  i.  182  sqq., 
Cherrier,  "  Hist,  de  la  Lutte  des  Papes  et  des  Empereurs,"  etc., 
iv.  (Paris,  185 1),  p.  ^^27  sqq.,  one  by  Grion,  "  Pozzo,"p.  46  ;  some 
of  them  also  in  D'Ancona's  "  Antiche  rime,"  iv.,  No.  698  sqq. — 
Don  Arrigo's  poem  from  the  same  MS.  in  D'Ancona,  ib.,  ii. 
No.  166.  For  all  these  poems,  cf  D'Ancona,  "  La  politicanella 
poesia  del  secolo  xiii  e  xiv,"  in  the  "  Nuova  Antologia,"  iv. 
5  sqq.  *  V.  Cian,  "  La  poesia  storico-politica  italiana  e  il  sue 
metodo  di  trattazione,"  Torino-Palermo,  1893.  * 

Page  85.  For  the  few  notices  on  Guittone's  life,  cf.  Bottari, 
"Letteredi  Fra  Guittone  d'Arezzo,"  Roma,  1745,  Introduction, 
and  Tiraboschi,  "  Stor.  Lett."  iv.  400  sqq.  For  three  documents 
proving  Guittone's  presence  at  Bologna  in  1285,  cf  Casini  in  the 
"  Riv.  crit."  iii.  114. — L.  Romanelli,  "Di  Guittone  d'Arezzo  e 
delle  sue  opere,"  Campobasso,  1875,  ^s  useless.  P.  Vigo,  "  Delle 
rime  di  Fra  Guittone  d'Arezzo,"  in  the  "  Giorn.  di  fil.  rom."  ii. 
19  sqq.  W.  Koken,  "Guittone's  von  Arezzo  Dichtung  und  sein 
Verhaltniss  zu  Guinicelli  von  Bologna,"  Leipzig,  1886  ;  very  bad. 
— The  poems  of  Guittone,  edited  by  L.  Valeriani  :  "  Rime  di  Fra 
Guittone  d'Arezzo,"  Firenze,  1828,  of  which  the  Florence  edition 
of  1867  is  an  imperfect  reprint.  Poems  of  Guittone  are  repro- 
duced from  the  Vatican,  Palatine,  and  Laurentian  MSS.  in  the 
collections  of  D'Ancona  (vols.  ii.  and  iv.),  Bartoli,  and  Casini, 
respectively.  *  A  critical  edition  of  the  poems  is  being  prepared 
by  F.  Pellegrini.  * — For  Guittone's  prose,  cf  Galvani,  "  Propug- 
natore,"  iv.  1°,  p.  12  sqq.  Guittone's  letters,  thirty-five  in  number, 
including  the  eight  poetical  ones  and  the  five  addressed  to  him 
by  others,  are  all  contained  in  the  MS.  Rediano  9  of  the  Lau- 
renziana.  According  to  a  note  in  the  Codex,  Redi  possessed  a 
larger  collection,  consisting  of  sixty-four  letters.  A  letter  of 
Guittone's  to  the  commune  of  Florence,  after  the  defeat  of  the 
Aretines  in  1289,  is  mentioned  in  a  chronicle  published  by 
Hartwig,  "  Quell,  und  Forsch.,"  ii.  231.    *  Cf.  Casini's  account 


348      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

of  the  MS.  Riccardiano  2533  in  the  "Giom.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital." 
iii.  164  sqq.  A  critical  edition  of  this  text  is  being  prepared  by 
F.  Torraca  and  M.  Menghini.  * 

Page  89.  That  the  violent  transpositions  of  the  Pisans  were 
due  to  imitation  of  the  Latin  style  was  noted  by  D'Ancona,  in 
the  "  Nuova  Antologia,"  ser.  ii.,  vol.  xii.,  p.  I73« 

Page  89.  A  certain  "  Monte  Andrea  Ughonis  Medici,"  who 
flourished  in  1280,  and  might  be  identical  with  the  poet,  was 
discovered  by  D'Ancona,  "  Antiche  Rime,"  ii.  226.  *  E.  Lamma, 
"Rime  di  Guido  Orlandi,"  Imola,  1898.  * 

Page  90.  According  to  Carducci,  in  a  note  to  Dante's  "  Vita 
Nuova,"  ed.  d'Ancona,  Pisa,  i884»  p.  59  J^.  the  difference 
between  sonetto  doppio  and  sonetto  rintersato  is  this,  that  in 
the  former  one  or  two  verses  of  seven  syllables  are  introduced 
in  the  terzine,  in  the  latter  a  verse  of  eleven  syllables  as  well. 
Lines  of  four  syllables,  extending  to  ten  verses,  were  the 
favourite  form  of  Monte  Andrea,  and  very  numerous  are  his 
sonnets  in  this  form,  reproduced  from  the  Vatican  MS.  in 
D'Ancona's  fourth  volume.  One  by  Paolo  Zoppo  in  reply  to 
Monte,  ib.,  No.  693  ;  one  by  Schiatta,  No.  651.  Double  sonnets 
of  twenty-three  verses  are  those  of  Monte  in  D'Ancona,  vol.  iv., 
Nos.  621,  622,  that  in  Grion,  "  Pozzo,"  p.  46,  and  that  in 
Cherrier,  iv.,  527,  and  also  Schiatta's  reply  ;  one  by  Maestro 
Francesco  in  D'Ancona,  iv.,  No.  501. 

Page  90.  The  ballad,  "  Et  donali  conforto,"  in  D'Ancona, 
iii.,  No.  316.  For  the  ballad  in  general  cf.  Carducci,  "  Intomo 
ad  alcune  rime  dei  secoli  xiii.  e  xiv.,"  Imola,  1876  (should  be 
1878),  p.  56.— Monaci  thought  that  he  recognised  the  ballad 
form  in  a  rhymed  Latin  inscription  of  the  year  1 190  at  Foligno  ; 
cf.  "  Rivista  critica,"  i.,  p.  89.  However,  the  agreement  is  not 
so  exact. 

Page  93.  For  a  biographical  note  on  Chiaro  Davanzati  by 
Fr.  Novati,  cf  the  "Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  v.  404  sqq.  His 
numerous  poems  are  now  for  the  greater  part  printed  In 
D'Ancona's  "  Antiche  rime,"  vols.  iii.  and  iv.  The  character  of 
his  poetry  was  dealt  with  by  Casini  in  the  "  Riv.  Crit.,"  i.  'Ji-'j'^', 
and  in  an  article  of  mine  in  the  "  Ztschr.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  ix.  571 
sqq,  *  C.  de  Lollis,  "  Sul  canzoniere  di  Chiaro  Davanzati,"  m 
the  first  Sitpplemento  of  the  "Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  1898, 
pp.  82  sqq.  * 

P.  98.  For  some  slight  remnants  of  Tuscan  popular  songs 
belonging  to  the  thirteenth  century,  cf.  D'Ancona,  "  La  Poesia 
Popolare  Italiano,"  Livorno,  1878,  p.  8  sqq.—¥  R.  Renier, 
"  Appunti  sul  contrasto  fra  la  madre  e  la  figliuola  bramosa  di 
marito,"  Misc.  Rossi-Teiss,  1898.  * 

Page  99.  The  biographical  notes  on  Guido  Guinicelli  are 
given  by  Gaetano  Monti  in  Fantuzzi's  "Notizie  degli  scrittori 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL   NOTES      349 

bolognesi,"  1784,  t.  iv.,  p.  345  sqq.  Here,  too,  the  observation 
that  he  was  married  to  Beatrice  of  the  noble  family  della  Fratta. 
G.  Grion's  "Guido  Guinicelli  e  Dino  Compagni,"  in  the  "Pro- 
pugnatore,"  ii.  2**,  p.  274  sqq.^  should  be  read  with  great  caution, 
like  all  this  author's  works.  For  the  rest,  I  am  not  certain 
whether  G.  Monti  hit  on  the  real  Guido,  since,  as  he  says  him- 
self, the  name  of  Guido  and  Guinicelli  occurred  frequently  in 
the  family  of  the  Principi.  *  Antonio  Bongioanni,  "  Guido 
Guinizelli  e  la  sua  riforma  poetica,"  Venezia,  1896  ("Estr.  dal 
Giorn.  Dantesco  ").  * — T.  Casini,  "  Le  rime  dei  poeti  bolognesi 
del  secolo  xiii.,"  Bologna,  1881,  gives  all  the  poems  by  Bolog- 
nese  of  the  time,  with  a  complete  bibliography. 

Page  102.  That  this  spiritual,  mystical  love,  in  Guinicelli, 
Cavalcanti,  and  Dante,  sprang  from  the  sensual  love  of  chivalry, 
has  often  been  remarked  ;  see  especially  the  admirable  observa- 
tions of  Gaston  Paris  "in  Romania,"  xii.  522.  The  two  differ 
considerably  from  each  other,  but  for  the  spiritual  love  the  con- 
ditions of  that  of  chivalry  still  hold  good  :  here,  too,  the  lady 
is  the  mistress  ;  here,  too,  love  has  nothing  to  do  with  marriage, 
either  for  the  present  or  the  future. 

Page  103.  A  list  of  reminiscences  of  Guinicelli  to  be  found 
in  Dante  was  given  by  Nannucci,  "  Man.,"  i.  46-48. 

Page  104.  For  Guido  Ghisilieri,  cf.  G.  Monti,  /.<:.,  p.  145  sqq. 
A.  Borgognoni  expressed  doubts  as  to  the  existence  of  this  poet 
in  an  article  I  have  been  unable  to  obtain  ["  Preludio,"  viii.  5, 
6].  For  Fabrizio,  cf  Monti,  ib.  iii.  282  sqq.  In  the  Barberini 
MS.,  xlv.  47,  he  is  called  Fabruzo  de  Perosa^  see  Casini,  p.  370 
sqq.  Monti  thought  that  he  retired  in  his  exile  to  Perugia. 
*  L.  Frati,  "  Fabruzzo  Lambertazzi,"  in  the  "  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett. 
ital.,"  xi.  128.  *  Doubtful  conjectures  on  the  personality  of 
Onesto  are  to  be  found  in  Monti,  /.<:.,  vi.  181  sq.  When  Dante 
wrote  his  "De  Eloq.  Vulg.,"  Onesto  was  dead, for  he  is  mentioned 
(i.  15)  among  the  doctores  qui fuerunt.  *  L.  Frati,  "Onesto  da 
Bologna,"  in  the  "  Giorn.  stor.,"  x.  356.  * 

Pages  105  sqq.  The  Bolognese  popular  poetry  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  is  treated  by  Casini,  "  La  coltura  bolognese," 
etc.,  in  the  "  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  it.,"  i.  26  sqq.^  and  by  Carducci, 
"  Intomo  ad  alcune  rime  dei  secoli  xiii.  e  xiv.  ritrovate  ne* 
memoriali  dell'  archivio  notariledi  Bologna,"  Imola,  1876  (really 
1878).  The  poems  also  in  Carducci,  "  Cantilene  e  ballate, 
strambotti  e  madrigali  nei  secoli  xiii.  e  xiv..,"  p.  39  sqq.^  Pisa, 
1871,  and  in  Casini,  "Rime," p.  173  sqq. — In  the  little  poem  on 
the  nightingale,  Carducci  and  Casini  (p.  174),  without  founda- 
tion, assume  verses  of  twelve  syllables  with  intermediate 
rhymes.  The  ripresa  is  also  in  two  verses.  That  the  first  of 
these  is  without  a  rhyme  is  very  usual ;  now,  Carducci  prints 
this  ripresa^  too,  in  two  verses — a  very  inconsistent  proceeding. 


350     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Carducci  ("  Intorno,"  etc.,  p.  Tj)  is  scarcely  right  in  supposing 
that  this  poem  of  the  nightingale  alludes,  at  least  allegorically, 
to  an  event,  che  dov^  aver  commosso  le  menti  e  i  cuori  ai  giorni 
in  cut  quella  poesia  fu  cantata.  It  is  mistaking  the  innocent 
character  of  this  poetry  to  assume  that  it  contains  anything  of 
the  kind.  *  L.  di  Giovanni,  "  Di  un  giuoco  popolare  nel 
secolo  xiii.,"  Palermo,  1890.  *  j  x       u 

Page  106  sq.  The  serventese  of  the  Geremei  and  Lamber- 
tazzi  was  published  in  1841  by  U.  Guidi.  The  MS.  is  now  not 
known  ;  it  is  reprinted  in  Casini, "  Rime,"  p.  i97  sqq.  *  F.  Pel- 
legrini, "II  serventese  dei  Lambertazzi  e  dei  Geremei,"  in  the 
"  Atti,  etc.,  della  R.  Deputazione  di  storia  patria  per  le  provincie 
di  Romagna"  (series  iii.,  vols,  ix  and  x),  Bologna,  1892.*  For 
the  Italian  senfentese  cf.  Carducci,  "Vita  Nuova"  (edition  of 
1884),  pp.  53-56,  and  the  observations  on  this  passage  in  the 
"  Litbl.  f.  germ.  u.  rom.  Phil.,"  1884,  p.  151.  It  is  also  worthy  of 
remark  that  an  Italian  troubadour,  Zorzi,  should  twice  have 
called  a  love-song  serventese.^  v.  Levy,  "  Der  Troub.  Bert. 
Zorzi,"  p.  25.  The  sententese  was  also  used,  by  predilection, 
for  enumerations  ;  see,  for  example,  in  this  one  of  the  Geremei 
and  Lambertazzi,  the  long  list  of  the  noble  families  of  Bologna 
(verse  22^  sqq.),  Othtv serventesi,  containing  enumerations, were 
Dante's  lost  one  on  the  sixty  fairest  ladies  of  Florence,  and 
Pucci's  on  a  cognate  theme.  •}<•  C.  Pini,  "Studio  intorno  al 
Sirventese  italiano,"  Lecco,  1893.  Cf.  Pellegrini,  in  the  "  Giorn. 
stor.  d.  lett.  it.,"  xxii.  395.  -x-  The  form  of  the  Italian  serventese, 
that  is  to  say,  the  curious  concatenation  by  means  of  the  short 
verse,  is  found  in  Provencal,  for  example,  in  Raimon  de  Mira- 
val's  love  epistle  (Bartsch,  "  Denkm.,"  p.  127) ;  in  Old  French,  in 
Rustebeuf  and  others,  v.  Tobler,  "  Vom  franzos.  Versbau,"  third 
edition,  Leipzig,  1894,  p.  i?-  So,  too,  the  "Bestourn^e  par 
Richart,"  in  Stengel,  "Cod.  Digby,"  p.  118  sqq.  This  is  a 
fatrasie.  The  same  occurs  in  2.fatrasie  of  Phillippe  de  Remi, 
v.  "  Roman.  Stud.,"  iv.  407.  We  find  the  same  form,  too,  in  the 
Provenc^al  mystery  of  St.  Pons  (8a,  8a,  8a,  8a,  4b,  8b  .  .  .),  v. 
Levy,  in  the  "  Literaturbl.,"  1885,  p.  337. 

Page  108.  Saladino  is  said  to  be  of  Pavio,  m  the  "  Poeti  del 
primo  secolo,"  i.  433.  The  Cod.  Chigi,  No.  245,  and  the  Cod. 
Palatino,  fol.  63,  have  simply  Saladino,  without  mentioning  his 
native  town.  There  was  a  Saladinus  notarius  cancellariae  in 
Pisa  in  the  year  1270,  v.  Muratori,  "  Script,"  xxiv.  677  ;  and  a 
Saladinus  notarius  de  Acqui  among  the  Pisan  jurists  at  the 
Council  of  Lyons  in  1275,  ib.  682.  A  Saladino,  uoino  di  corte, 
that  is  to  say,  a  minstrel,  who  was  once  in  Sicily,  occurs  in  the 
"Novellino,"  No.  40.— The  so-called  Lamento  della  sposa  pado- 
vana  was  edited  last  by  Carducci,  "  Cant,  e  ball,"  p.  22  sqq. 
There  is  a  note  on  the  language  in  Ascoli,  "  Archivio  glotto- 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      35 1 

logico  italiano,"  i.  421,  note.  Renier,  "  Giorn.  stor.,"  iv.  423,  note 
I,  thinks  that  it  lacks  not  only  the  beginning  but  also  the  con- 
clusion, and  that  it  is  a  fragment,  not  of  a  lyrical  composition, 
but  of  a  popular  narrative  poem.  It  is  quite  possible  that  he  is 
right.  To  which  crusade  does  the  poem  allude?  Carducci 
thinks,  to  the  one  preached  by  Urban  IV.  ;  but  did  he  ever 
preach  a  crusade  save  the  one  against  Manfred  and  the  Sara- 
cens of  Nocera,  which  cannot  be  the  one  in  question .?  D'Ancona, 
"  Poesia  popolare,"  p.  18,  is  inclined  to  connect  the  poem  with 
the  crusade  of  1204,  because  the  Venetians  took  part  in  it. 
But  could  not  a  Paduan  have  taken  part  in  another  crusade  as 
well,  for  example,  in  that  of  Frederick  II.?  For  the  rest,  the 
crusade  cannot  indicate  the  period  of  the  poem,  which  might  be 
retrospective.  As  a  specimen  of  dialectical  court  poetry  in  the 
North  might  be  taken  the  canzone  on  the  sufferings  of  love, 
edited  by  Mussafia,  "  Riv.  di  fil.  rom.,"  ii.  65  sqq.  However,  it 
may  be  of  later  date. 

Page  109  sqq.  The  author  of  the  "  Bataille  Loquifer"  pre- 
tends that  he  had  been  in  Sicily,  and  gained  a  large  sum  of 
money  by  reciting  his  poem,  which  may,  however,  merely  be 
one  of  the  lies  usual  among  the  minstrels  ;  cf.  Gautier,  "  Epop. 
fran^.,"  i.  215,  note.,  and  G.  Paris,  "  Romania,"  iv.  471.  Accord- 
ing to  G.  Paris,  ib..,  v.  no,  the  "  Ahschans,"  too,  was  probably 
written  in  Sicily  ;  that  would  be  in  the  time  of  the  Normans. — 
The  chronicle  of  Martino  da  Canale  was  edited  by  Polidori, 
"  Arch.  stor.  ital.,"  t.  viii.  On  the  passage  in  Dante,  concerning 
which  there  has  been  much  dispute,  see,  in  the  last  instance, 
Witte,  "Jenaer  Lit.  Zeit.,"  1879,  p.  381,  and  Bdhmer,  "Roman. 
Stud.,"  iv.  114. — That  Dante's  words  vulgar e  pros aicum  cannot 
be  taken  to  include  verse  romances  as  well,  was  shown  by 
Bohmer  ;  see  also  G.  Paris,  "  Rom.,"  x.  479  note. — For  Rusti- 
ciano  cf  P.  Paris,  "  Les  manuscrits  fran^ois  de  la  Bibl.  du 
Roy,"  vol.  ii.  355  sqq..,  iii.  56  sqq.,  Paris,  1838;  A.  Bartoli, 
"  I  viaggi  di  Marco  Polo,"  p.  Iv.  sqq.,  Firenze,  1863. 

Page  no.  For  "  Gui  de  Nanteuil,"  see  P.  Meyer  in  the 
edition  of  the  poem  in  the  "Anciens  Pontes  de  la  France,"  p. 
xxiv.  sqq.,  Paris,  186 1.  There,  on  page  xxv,  will  be  found  the 
verse  :  "  Car  amor  ne  rechert  rens  for  che  gentilixe,"  which 
appears  to  be  a  reminiscence  of  Guinicelli.  Fragments  of 
"Aliscans"  are  printed,  according  to  the  MS.  VIII.  of  St. 
Mark's,  in  Keller's  "Romvart,"  Mannheim,  1844,  p.  29  sqq.  In 
the  same  book  are  published  specimens  of  all  the  other  texts  we 
are  now  discussing.  A  portion  of  "  Aspremont "  was  published 
by  Bekker  in  the  "  Phil.  u.  hist.  Abh.  der  Kgl.  Akad.  d.  W.  in 
Berlin,"  of  the  year  1839,  p.  252  sqq.  For  the  MSS.  of  St. 
Mark's,  cf.  also  P.  Lacroix,  in  Champollion-Figeac's  "  Doc. 
hist,  in^dits,"  iii.,  p.  345  sqq.,  Paris,  1847.     Fragments  of  the 


352      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Franco-Italian  "  Anseis  de  Cartage,"  are  given  by  W.  Meyer, 
*'Ztschrft.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  ix.  600  sqq.,  and  of  the  "Aspremont," 

ib.  X.  22  sqq.  ,    ,      ^     .•         r 

Page  III.  That  the  Jean  of  Navarre  and  the  Gautier  of 
Aragon,  in  the  "  Entree,"  are  invented,  is  the  opinion  of  Gautier, 
"  Epop.,"  ii.  328,  and  of  G.  Paris,  "  Histoire  poetique  de  Charle- 
magne," Paris,  1865,  p.  175-  Stengel,  "  Ztschr.  f.  rom.  Phil.," 
V  380,  opposes  this  view,  but  is  certamly  wrong. 

Page  III.  The  "  Entree  de  Spagne,"  which  is  said  to  comprise 
between  fifteen  and  sixteen  thousand  verses,  is  not  yet  printed  ; 
an  analysis  and  specimens  are  given  by  Gautier  in  the  "  Bibl. 
de  I'Ecole  des  Chartes,"  IV^  s^rie,  t.  iv.  217  sqq.  The  last  482 
verses  are  printed  in  A.  Thomas's  "  Nouvelles  recherches  sur 
I'Entr^e  de  Spagne,"  p.  51  sqq.,  Paris,  1882.— "La  Prise"  was 
pubHshed  by  Mussafia  :  "  Altfranz.  Gedichte  aus  venet.  Hss., 
Wien,  1864,  vol.  i.  For  the  title,  cf.  Mussafia,  "  Handschriftl. 
Studien,"  Wien,  1863,  ii.,  p.  291,  note. 

Page  114.  For  Estout,  cf.  Gautier,  "Epop.,"  11.  166  sqq. 
How  he  became  an  Englishman  was  shown  by  G.  Pans,  "  Hist, 
poet.,"  p.  183,  note  i  ;  see  also  Thomas,  "  Rech.,"  p.  44. 

Page  115.  On  the  relations  between  the  "Entree"  and  the 
"  Prise,"  and  between  their  authors,  see  Thomas,  "  Nouv. 
rech  "  which  contain  references  to  everything  else  bearing  on 
the  subject.  On  p.  23  sqq.  are  printed  195  y^jses  from  the 
"Passione"  of  Nicola  da  Verona.  *V.  Crescini,  "  Di  Nicolo 
da  Verona,"  (Estr.  dagli  Atti  del  R.  Istituto  Veneto),  Venezia, 
1897  —A  "  Pharsale,"  by  the  same  Nicola,  was  discovered  and 
published  by  H.  Wahle,  as  No.  80  of  Stengel's  "  Ausgaben  u. 
Abhandlungen,"  Marburg,  1888.*        ,.     ,   ,       ^        ,-    •       i. 

Page  115.  The  "Hector'  was  edited  by  Bartoh,  in  the 
"Arch,  veneto,"  vol.  iii.,  parte  ii.,  344  sqq.,  according  to  the 
MS.  XVIII.  of  St.  Mark's,  where  it  comes  after  the  "  Roman  de 
Troie."  The  beginning  of  the  MS.  Riccardiano  was  printed  in 
"  I  primi  due  secoli,"  p.  109.  For  a  MS.  in  Paris  and  another 
in  Oxford,  cf.  P.  Meyer,  "  Documents  manuscrits  de  I'ancienne 
litt.  de  la  France,"  Paris,  1871,  pp.  159  and  245  sqq.  For  a  fifth 
MS.  in  London,  cf.  P.  Meyer,  "Rom.,"  ii.  135  sqq.  Joly  deals 
with  the  "  Hector"  in  "  Benoit  de  Sainte-More  et  le  Roman  de 
Troie,"  i.  410,  Paris,  1870. 

Page  116.  For  the  language  of  these  monuments,  cf.  Mussa- 
fia, Introduction  to  the  "Prise,"  p.  vi.  sqq.,  and  P.  Meyer, 
"Rech.  sur  I'Epop^e  fran^.,  Paris,  1867,  p.  46  sqq.  Adolf 
Keller, "  Die  Sprache  des  Venetianer  Roland,"  Strassburg,  1884. 
On  the  language  of  the  "  Anseis,"  see  W.  Meyer,  "  Ztsch.  f.  rom. 
Phil.,  ix.  623  sqq.  ;  on  that  of  the  "  Aspremont,"  x.  42  sqq. 

Page  116.  The  compilation  of  the  MS.  XIII.  is  considered 
to  be  due  entirely  to  one  author  by  P.  Rajna,  "Romania,"  ii.  166, 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL   NOTES      353 

and  elsewhere,  and  also  by  G.  Paris,  "  Romania,"  li.  270  sqq 
This  view  is  wrongly  opposed  by  Bartoli,  "  Stor.  lett.,"  ii    43' 
According  to  G.  Paris's  conjecture,  the  MS.  xiii.  is  identical  with 
the  one  which,  in  the  inventory  of  the  Gonzaga  of  the  year  1407, 
No.  44,  is  mentioned  under  the  name  of  "  Karolus  Magnus,"  cf! 
"Romania,"  ix.  5 11.     In  that  case,  the  greater  part  of  the  begin- 
ning would  be  missing,  and  this,  as  G.  Paris  thinks,  contained 
the  history  of  the  entire  Carolingian  house,  like  the  "  Reali  di 
Francia."     Then  Thomas,  "  Romania,"  x.  407,  conjectured  that 
the  MS.  44  of  the  Gonzaga  was  the  one  from  which    G    M 
Barbieri  quotes  "  Huon  d'Auvergne,"  and  G.  Paris,  adhering  to 
the  identity  between  the  MS.  xiii.  and  No.  44,  is  thereby  now  led 
to  believe  that  the  beginning  of  the  former  contained  "  Huon 
d  Auvergne,"  ib.,  p.  408,  note.     On  the  compilation  of  the  MS 
xiii.  in  general  see  G.  Paris,  "  Hist.  Poet.,"  p.  165  sqq.     The 
tollowing  of  the  poems  have  been  published  :  "  Macaire  "  twice— 
by  Mussafia,  "Altfranz.  Ged.,"  vol.  ii.,  and  by  Guessard,  in  the 
«  Anciens  poetes  de  la  France,"  vol.  ix.,  Paris,  1866  ;  moreover, 
Berthe  aux  grands  pieds,"  by  Mussafia,  in  "  Romania,"  iii   -340 
W.,^iv.  91  sqq.  ;    "  Berta  e  Milone,"  zb.  xiv.  177  sqq.  ;  "  Orlan- 
dino,    lb.  192  sqq      The  remaining  portions  have  been  analysed 
by  Guessard  in  the  "  Bibl.  de  I'Ecole  des  Chartes,"  IV^  serie  t 
"1-,  P-  393  sqq.     For  the  "  Bueve,"  "  Karleto,"  "  Milo  e  Berthk  " 
see  P.  Rajna,  "  Ricerche  intorno  ai  Reali  di  Francia,"  Bologna 
-  ^.i:  ^'u'^^  -^^/Z' ^"^  226  sqq.     [For  "  Karleto,"  see  also  R^na,' 
m  the     Riv.  filol-lett."  of  Verona,  vol.  ii.]  *  For  the  "  Buovo 
d  Antona,"  cf.  also  "Ztschr.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  xi.   153  sqq.,  xii    46^ 
^^^.,  and  xiv.  47  sqq.  #      Finally,  for  "  Ogier,"  see  RajAa,  "Ro- 
mania, 11. 153  W.-Onthe  originality  of"  Milone  e  Berta,"  see 
O.  Paris,     Hist,  poet.,"  p.  170,  and  Rajna,  "Ricerche,"  p   or^ 
sqq.     However,  in  "  Romania,"  ii.  363  sqq.,  G.  Paris  again  ex"^ 
presses  doubts,  and  thinks  it  probable  that  the  French  ori^nal 
has,  after  all,  only  been  lost.-On  the  ,o-este  of  the  traitors  in 
the  compilation,  see  G.  Paris,  "Hist,  poet.,"  p.  167  sqq.,  ^nd 
Rom.,"  11.  362.     He  rightly  remarks  at  the  s^me  time  that  it 
was  no  invention  of  the  compiler  himself. 

v.H5^l"f^7^'^  "Roland":  P.  Rajna,  "La  rotta  di  Roncis- 

valle  nella  letteratura  cavalleresca  ital.,"  in  the  "  Propugnatore  " 

111.  2«,  394  sqq      The  Franco-Italian  text  was  edited  by  Kolbin^ 

La  chanson  de  Roland,  Genauer  Abdruck  der  venet.  Hs  iv  '' 

Heilbronn,  i877--Of  other  Franco-Italian  texts  we  may  note 

the  following  :  A  collection  of  fables,  of  which  only  the  "  morals  " 

(in  verses  of  eight  syllables)  have  come  down  to  us,  published 

by  Rajna,    Giorn.  di  fil.  rom.,"  i.  34  sqq.  A  legend  of  S.  Catherine, 

partly    ,n    French,   partly   in    Franco-Italian,    mentioned    by 

Mussafia,     Zur  Katharmenlegende,"  Wien,  1874,  p.  24  sq.     The 

Passion,"  of  the  MS.  vi.  of  S.  Mark's  (written  down  in  1371 

'•  A  A  * 


354      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

hut  Drobablv  older),  different  to  the  one  by  Nicola  da  Verona  : 
XcW/' La  Passion  du  Christ,"  Montpellier,  1870  (from  the 
"  Revue  des  lang.  rom.").-There  is  a  note  on  a  Franco-Italian 
version  of  the  "  Conti  di  antichi  cavalien,"  translated  from  the 
Italian  original,  in  "  Romania,"  xiv.  621.  .    u^     a 

Paire  I IQ  The  Cantatores  Francigenartim  probably  do  not 
mean  French  singers,  but  such  as  sing  of  French  heroes  ;  this 
Te  explanation  of  Gaston  Paris,  "  Hist  poet.,"  p.  162,  and  of 
Raina  too.-For  the  language  of  the  Venetian  versions,  cf. 
AscoH  "Arch.  Glott.,"  i.%51.  The  "  Bovo"  contained  in  a 
Lauremian  MS.,  was  Published  by  Rajna  "  Ricerche'  p  4^^^^ 
sqq.  "  Rainardo  e  Lesengrino,"  ed.  by  E.  Teza,  Pisa  1869. 
The  MS  in  Udine  was  discovered  by  Putelli,  and  published  by 
him  in  the  "Giorn.  di  hi.  rom.,"  ii.  156  .r^^.  Now  the  two  ver- 
sions  of  this  Rainardo  are  contained  in  E.  Martin's  Le  roman 
de  Renart,"  Strassburg,  1885,  vol.  11.,  p.  l^^m-  ^      . 

PaL  121.  The  period  of  the  Franco-Italian  poetry  :  Gautier 
assigned  the  "  EnUee  "  and  the  "  Prise  "  to  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury None  of  the  MSS.,  probably,  are  earlier  than  this.  G. 
Paris  (Romania,"  ii.  364  note  2),  placed  the  compilation  m  the 
MS.  xiii.,  and  the  "Prise  "and  "Entre^e;'  \- i^\t^f!f  "^  P^^^^^^^^ 
(contrary  to  a  former  opinion  expressed  m  the  Hist.  poet.  ;  , 
there  is  no  good  reason  to  support  this  view.  _ 

Pa-e  121  R.  Renier,  "La  discesa  di  Ugo  d'Alvernia  alio 
InferSo,"  I5ologna,  1883,  where  the  bibliography  is  given.  Ihe 
Franco- Italian  original  of  the  version  in  Turin  was  contained  m 
the  MS  21  of  the  Bibl.  Gonzaga,  according  to  the  inventory 
made  in  1407  ;  see  "  Romania,"  ix.  508.  This  MS  after  being 
newlv  discovered  in  the  Hamilton  Library,  with  which  it  came 
?o  B  JrHn  was  more  fully  described  by  A.  Tobler,  "  Die  Berliner 
Handschrift  des  Huon  d'Auvergne,"  ^^  ^he  "  Sitzungsberichte 
der  Berl.  Akad.  d.  W.,"  xxvii.  605  sqq.  The  MS.  was  completed 
as  early  as  1341.  For  the  fact  that  the  Paduan  version,  too, 
follows  the  Berlin  version  literally  in  certain  passages,  ct.  Casini, 
"  Rivista  critica,"  i.  82.  .. 

Page  1215^.  For  Casola,  cf.  D'Ancona,  "  Studi  di  critica  e 
storia  letteraria,"  Bologna,  1880,  p.  455  ,^^^.,  jhere  the  biblio- 
graphy of  the  subject  is  given.  "Aquilon  de  Bavi^re,  was 
analysed  and  characterised  by  Thomas,  m      Romania,    xi.  538 

■^^age  125.  The  Decalogue  in  the  dialect  of  Bergamo  and 
the  "Salve  Regina"  are  printed  in  Gabriele  Rosa's  Dialetti, 
costumi  e  tradizioni  delle  provincie  di  Bergamo  edi  Brescia, 
BerL^amo  iSq;,  p.  127  sqq.  [Two  new  editions  of  this  book  ap- 
peaK'  185^7  and  1/70'/  tL.  Decalogue  may  also  be  found  m 
Biondelli's  "  Saggio  sui  dialetti  Gallo-itahci,"  Milano,  1855,  P; 
673    and  in  the  same  scholar's  "  Poesie  lombarde  inedite  del 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      355 

sec.  xiii.,"  Milano,  1856,  p.  197  sqq.  The  two  poems  in  the 
dialect  of  Bergamo  have  been  newly  edited  according  to  the  MS., 
by  Bartoli,  "  Crestomazia  della  poesia  italiana  dal  periodo  della 
origini,"  Torino,  1882,  pp.  i  and  7. 

Page  126.  Biondelli,  Mussafia  and  Bartoli  assumed  the  exist- 
ence of  a  literary  tongue  in  Northern  Italy.  This  view  was 
opposed  by  Ascoli,  "Arch.  Glott.,"  i.  309  sqq. 

Page  126.  "  Das  Buch  des  UgU9on  da  Laodo,"  edited  by  A. 
Tobler,  Berlin,  1884,  (from  the  "  Abhandl.  der  Berliner  Akad.  d. 
W."),  with  a  literary  and  philological  introduction.  Tobler 
shows,  p.  8  sqq..,  that  Barsegap^  made  use  of  Uguccione's  poem. 

Page  127.  Barsegap^'s  poem  is  printed  in  Biondelli's  "  Poesie 
lombarde  inedite,"  p.  35  sqq.,  and  in  the  same  scholar's  "  Studi 
linguistici,"  Milano,  1856,  p.  193  sqq.  The  MS.  gives  the  date 
1264  ;  Tiraboschi,  "Stor.  lett."  iv.  418,  showed  that  this  should 
be  1274.  That  the  poem  was  intended  for  recital  is  proved  by 
several  passages,  notably  by  the  one  on  p.  258  in  the  "Studi 
ling.,"  where  the  author  requests  silence  and  attention,  after  the 
manner  of  the  minstrels  ;  and  similarly  by  the  lines  on  p.  314, 
from  which  it  appears  that  women,  too,  were  present.  *  c! 
Salvioni,  in  the  "  Zeitschr.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  xv.  429  sqq.  See  also 
Emil  Keller, "  Die  Sprache  der  Reimpredigt  des  Pietro  da  Bar- 
segap^,"  in  the  "  Beilage  zum  Programm  der  Thurgauischen 
Kantonsschule,"  Frauenfeld,  1896  (cf.  "  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.," 
xxix.  453  sqq.).  * 

Page  128.  The  poems  of  Fra  Giacomino  were  published  first 
by  Ozanam  in  his  "Documents  pour  servir  k  I'hist.  litt.  de 
I'ltalie,"  Paris,  1850,  and  then  by  Mussafia,  "Monumenti 
antichi  di  dialetti  italiani,"  Vienna,  1864  (from  the  "  Sitzungsber 
der  Wiener  Akad.  d.  W.").  For  a  second  MS.  in  Udine,  cf 
Putelli,  in  the  "Giorn.  di  fil.  rom.,"  ii.  155.  A  third  MS.  was 
discovered  by  Rajna  in  the  Colombina  Library  at  Seville  ;  cf 
Biadene,  in  the  "  Studi  di  fil.  rom.,"  i.  269  sqq.  The  poem  "'  De 
Jerusalem  Coelesti"  is  contained  also  in  an  Oxford  MS.;  cf 
Tobler,  "  Das  Spruchgedicht  des  Girard  Pateg,"  p.  4,  7iote.  ' 

Page  129.  The  prayer  to  the  Virgin,  in  the  Veronese  dialect 
and  in  the  form  of  a  serventese,  was  published  by  C.  Cipolla  in 
the  "Arch.  stor.  ital.,"  serie  IV.,  t.  vii.,  p.   150  sqq.,  with  many 
mistakes,  and  absolute  misconception  as  to  the  form  of  the  poem 
*  This  poem  was  edited  again  by  C.  Pini,  in  his  "  Studio  intorno 
al  sirventese  iialiano,"  Lecco,  1893;  while  Cipolla  printed  a  re- 
vised text,  differing  considerably  from  his  first  edition,  in  the 
Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  xxiii.,  p.  156  sqq.  * 
Page  130.     For  Bonvesin,  cf.  Tiraboschi,  "Vetera  Humiliat- 
oruni   Monumenta,"  Mediolani,  1766.  i.  297  sqq.;  and  "Stor. 
lett.,"  iv.  418  sq.     The  two  testaments  were  published  by  C 
Canetta,  in  the  "Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  vii.  170  sqq.     The 


356      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

poems  were  edited  by  I.  Bekker  in  the  "Berichte  der  Berliner 
^kad^d.  W."  of  the  year  1850  (pp.  322,  379,  438,  478^^^^^^ 
vear  i8u  (PP-  3,  85,  132,  209  ;  here,  on  p.  45°.  a  poetical  passage 
Tom  the  "Vita' scolastica").  Some  of  the. poems  are  prmted 
also  in  Biondelli's  "  Poesie  lomb.  ined.,"  and  m  his  Stud.  Img.  ; 
but  here  according  to  the  very  faulty  copy  m  the  Ambrosiana. 
A  new  edition  of  Bonvesin  has  been  promised  by  Biadene.  A 
Seifert,  "Glossar  zu  den  Gedichten  ;,des  Bonvesin  ^la  Riva,^^ 
Berlin,  1886  ;    *  (cf.  Salvioni,  in  the     Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital., 

viii.  410  sqq.,  and  ix.  340  sqq.).  *  ,        •  ^„a  tUo 

Paee  i^i.  With  the  dialogue  between  the  sinner  and  the 
Virgin  m'ay  be  compared  the  Provencal  poems  in  Suchier, 
-Denkmaler  prov.  Lit.  u.  Sprache,"  i-  (Halle,  ^883  ,  PP.  2i5j 
225  sqq..  and  p.  279,  verse  211  sqq.  *  F.  Roediger,  Contrasti 
antichi— Cristo  e  Satana,"  Firenze,  1887.* 

Paee  1^.2  Bonvesin  da  Riva,  "II  trattato  dei  mesi,"  was 
edited  by'  Lidforss,  Bologna,  1872;  on  this  publication  see 
Wesselofsky,  in  the  "  Propugnatore,"  v.  2%  368  sqq.,  and 
Efia,  in  "Romania,"  ii.  113  sqq.  The  twelve  months 
were  a  favourite  theme  for  poetry.  Thus,  Jacopo  da  Acqui 
savs  at  the  end  of  the  well-known  anecdote  concerning 
Pier'della  Vigna  and  his  wife:  "  Et  sic  facta  est  pax  inter 
dominam  et  Petrum,  et  tunc  Petrus  cantat  pro  gaudio  de  duo- 
decim  mensibus  anni  et  de  proprietatibus  eorum.  IhusJ^oo, 
we  have  the  series  {corona)  of  sonnets  by  Folgore  da  S.  Gemig- 
nano,  which  will  be  dealt  with  further  on.  For  the  numerous 
contrasti  of  the  twelve  months  in  popular  poetry,  cf.  Giorn. 
stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  ii.  250  and  261  ,  ^^ 

Patre  1 34.  See,  for  example,  how  ugly  is  the  tale  of  h  rate 
Ave  Maria!"  in  the  "  Dodici  Conti  Morali "  (No.  4),  1/  we  com- 
pare it  with  Bonvesin.  For  other  indications  of  the  legend,  ct. 
Zambrini,  id.,  p.  19  ;  likewise  Bartoli,  "I  primi  due  sec,  p  296, 
note  8,  and  "  Stor.  lett,"  ii.  80  sq.  ;  "  Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phil,  1. 
C160  ("  Du  povre  clerc  "),  td.,  p.  367. 

Paee  118.     A  "Passion  of  Christ"  in  the  ancient  Veronese 
dialect,  composed  in  tirades  with  a  single  rhyme  and  in  verses 
of  twelve  syllables,  was  published  by  Biadene  in  the     Studi  di 
fil.  rom.,"  i.  243  sqq.     He  is  inclined  to  attribute  this  too  to  Fra 
Giacomino.     For  other  religious  poems  of  Northern  Italy  see 
Mussafia's  introduction  to  the  "  Monumenti  antichi    ;  then  there 
is  the  Catherine  legend   in   Alexandrines  edited  by  Mussatia, 
"Zur  Katharinenlegende,"  Wien,  1874  (from  the      Sitzungsb.  d 
Wiener  Akad.").      "  Maria  Aegyptiaca,"    in   verses   of   eight 
syllables,  edited  by  Casini,  in  the  "  Giorn.  fil.  rom.,    ni.,  fasc.  2 
n.  90  sqq. ;   this  is  a  free  rendering  of  a  French  original  ;  ct 
P   Meyer,  "  Romania,"  xii.  408.     The  religious,  moral  canzone 
in  sixteen  stanzas,  "  Santo  spirto  dolce  glorioso,    edited,  from  a 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND   CRITICAL   NOTES      357 

Lyons  MS.,  by  W.  Foerster  ("Giorn.  fil.  rom.,"  ii.  46  sqq.), 
scarcely  North  Italian,  rather  Tuscan,  perhaps  by  a  disciple 
of  Guittone's  school ;  the  slight  dialectical  colouring  may  be  due 
to  the  scribe. 

Page  134.  That  Bonvesin's  poem,  dealing  with  the  fifty  rules 
of  conduct  was  still  known  in  the  sixteenth  century  is  proved  by 
Giulio  Cesare  Croce's  imitation  of  one  of  the  stanzas  (the  30th 
cortesid) ;  see  the  passage  in  the  "Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  iii.  216. 
The  didactic  poem  in  the  Vatican  MS.  4476,  was  published  by 
Bartsch,  "  Riv.  fil.  rom,"  ii.  45  sqq.  For  Old  French  and 
Provencal  poems  dealing  with  conduct  at  table,  see  P.  Meyer, 
"  Romania,"  xiv.  520. 

Page  134  sqq.  For  Patechio's  name  see  Novati,  "  Giorn.  stor. 
d.  lett.  ital.,"  i.  413,  note  2.  Notes  concerning  the  poet  and  some 
of  his  verses  were  published  by  Mussafia  in  the  "Jahrb.,"  vi. 
222  sqq.,  and  viii.  210;  also  by  Teza,  in  the  "Giorn.  fil.  rom.," 
i.  233  sqq.  See,  too,  D'Ancona,  "  Poesia  pop.  ital,"  p.  12. 
Patechio's  poem  has  now  been  edited  by  Tobler:  "  Das  Spruch- 
gedicht  des  Girard  Pateg,"  in  the  "  Abh.  d.  Berl.  Akad.  d.  W.," 
1886.  Pateg  borrows  from  the  "  Proverbia  Salomonis,"  but  still 
more  from  "  Ecclesiasticus  "  (see  Tobler,  p.  7  sqq.).  *  F.  Novati, 
"Girardo  Pateg  e  le  sue  'Noie'"(in  the  "  Rendiconti  del  R. 
Istituto  lombardo,"  xxix.  5  and  9).  See  also  "Giorn.  stor.  d. 
lett.  ital.,"  xxi.  455.  *  "Proverbia  quae  dicuntur  super  natura 
foeminarum,"  edited,  from  the  Saibante-Hamilton  MS.  (now  at 
Berlin),  by  Tobler,  in  the  "Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  ix.,  296  sqq. 
*  A.  Raphael,  "  Die  Sprache  der  Proverbia  quae  dicuntur  &c.," 
Berlin,  1887.  * 

Page  136.  The  "Rime  genovesi"  were  published  by  Lago- 
maggiore  in  the  "Arch.  Glott.,"  ii.  161  sqq.  The  MS.  is  not  an 
original,  but  only  a  copy  (see  Lagomaggiore's  Preface).  *  A 
second  instalment  of  these  poems  was  published  in  vol.  x.  of 
the  same  journal  by  E.  Parodi.  * 

Page  ^-i^Zsqq.  *  O.  Grifoni,  "  La  letteratura  umbra  nel  sec. 
xiii.,"  Trevi,  1899.  * 

Page  138.  Contrary  to  the  general  assumption,  Bonghi 
("  Nuov.  Antol.,"  ser.  ii.,  t.  35.,  p.  606)  places  Francis'  birth  in 
the  year  1 181,  as  the  date  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  "  Fioretti," 
and  these  say  that  he  died  in  1226,  negli  anni  45  delta  sua  nati- 
vitade.  But  does  not  this  mean  "  in  the  forty-fifth  year  "  ?  And 
that  would  give  the  year  1182. 

Page  138  sq.  The  "Speculum  vitae  B.  Francisci,"  p.  124, 
calls  the  Hymn  to  the  Sun  also  "  Laus  de  creaturis,"  and  then 
"  Canticum  fratris  solis  de  creaturis  domini  nostri "  ;  the  same 
occurs  on  p.  128,  but  here  the  title  "Canticum  fratris  solis"  is 
designated  as  being  the  one  selected  by  Francis  himself. 
This   enumeration  of  created  things  obviously  goes  back  to 


358      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Psalm  cxlviii,  as  has  been  noted  (see  Grion,  "  Propug.,"  i.  605, 
and  D'Ancona,  "Nuova  Antol.,"  ser.  11.,  t.  21,  p.  197)-     how- 
ever the  Psalmist  exhorts  all  creatures  to  praise  God,  whereas 
Francis  extols  God  on  their  account.      It  is  true   that  Hase 
("Franz  von  Assisi,"  Leipzig,  1886,  p.  88  sqq.\  and  D'Ancona, 
Ic,  try  to  take  the  Hymn  to  the  Sun  in  the  same  sense  as  the 
Psalm.     But  how  can  death  extol  God  ?    And  the  very  begm- 
ning :  "  Laudatu  sii  .  .  .  cum  tutte  le  tue  creature,"  contradicts 
this    theory.— The   best   text   of  the   "Canticum"   is   that    of 
Bohmer,  "Rom.   stud.,"  i.    120  sqq.  ;  it  contains  scarcely  any 
formal  alterations,  and  the  verses  quoted  above  are  taken  from 
it      The  reading  which  Fonfani  communicated  in  his  transla- 
tion of  Ozanam's  book,  "  I  poeti  francescani  in  Italia  nel  sec. 
xiii. ,"  Prato,  1854,  p.  49  ^99">  is  supposed  to  be  taken  from  a 
MS.  written  before  1255,  which  is  certainly  not  the  case,  unless, 
indeed,   he   made   some   important   alterations   himself     *  F. 
Pulignani,  "  II  cantico  del  Sole  di  S.  Fr.  di  Assisi,"  Fohgno, 
1888.     Cf.   Monaci,   "  Crestom,"  i.  29  sqq.,  and   Teza,   m   the 
"  Propugnatore,"   N.    S.,   i.    i,    108  sqq.      I.   Delia  Giovanna, 
"  S   Francesco  d'Assisi  giuUare  e  le  '  Laudes  Creaturarum,     in 
the  "  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  xxv.  i  sqq.,  and  xxix.  229  sqq.  * 
Two  other  poems  that  were  formerly  attributed  to  Francis  are 
rather  by  Jacopone  (see  D'Ancona,  "  Nuova  Antol,"  I.e.,  p.  226, 
note  II).— For  Francis  in  general,  see,  in  addition  to  what  has 
been  quoted  above,  R.  Bonghi's  brilliant  article  in  the  "Nuova 
Antol,  ser.  ii.,  t.  35.  P-  605  sqq.    ["  II  settimo  centenario  di  S. 
Francesco,"  Assisi,  1867- 1882,  a  periodical  publication  in  five 
parts;   see   "Giorn.   stor.    d.    lett.    ital,"   i.   365   sqq.]     *  Paul 
Sabatier,   "Vie  de  S.  Francjois  d'Assise,"  6^.  ed..  Pans,  1896 
(English    translation    by    L.    S.    Houghton,    London,    1894). 
"Speculum  perfectionis  seu  S.  Francisci   Assisiensis  legenda 
antiquissima"    .  .  .  nunc    primum   edidit   P.   Sabatier,    Pans, 
1898    (English    translation    by     Sebastian     Evans,     London, 

189S).   *  ,  .  ,  ,     u      i:-  •  ; 

Page  139  sq.  Fra  Pacifico  is  mentioned  not  only  by  Francis 
biographer,  Tommaso  da  Celano,  but  also  in  the  "  Speculum 
vit^  B.  Francisci  et  sociorum  ejus,"  Metis,  1509,  p.  124.  All 
notices  concerning  verses  by  him  are  very  doubtful ;  see  Molteni, 

in  the  "Giorn.  fil  rom.,"  ii.  93-  .  c  ^    u  t^-    • 

Page  143  sqq.  For  Fasani  and  the  processions  of  the  Disci- 
plinati,"  see  Monaci,  "  Riv.  fil.  rom.,"  i.,  250  sqq.  *  Renier, 
"  Un  codice  antico  di  flagellanti,"  in  the  "  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett. 
ital,"  xi.  109  sqq.  *— D'Ancona  deals  with  the  latida  in  his 
"Origine  del  teatro  in  Italia,"  Firenze,  1877,  i.  105  sqq.— A 
lauda  of  exceptional  antiquity,  because  it  is  the  work  of  the 
saint  Guido  Vagnottelli,  who  died  in  1250,  is  said  to  be  pub- 
lished by  Girol  Mancini  ("  I  MSS.  della  libreria  del  Comune  e 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL   NOTES      359 

dell'   Accademia  etrusca    di    Cortona,"    Cortona,    1874);    see 
"  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital,"  v.  301. 

Page  145.  It  should  be  added  that  D'Ancona  gives  good 
reasons  for  doubting  the  date  of  the  poem,  "  Or  udite  nova 
pazzia "  as  given  in  the  old  biography,  and  on  the  strength  of 
its  subject-matter  he  places  it  rather  in  the  early  period  of  the 
author's   conversion  ("Nuova   Antol,"   ser.   ii.,   t.    21,   p.    204 

note). 

Page  145.  The  notices  concerning  Jacopone's  life  are  mostly 
taken  from  the  early  "  Vita  del  beato  fra  Jacopone  da  Tode,"  in 
the  Umbrian  dialect,  which  was  edited  by  Tobler  in  the  "Ztschf. 
f.  rom.  Phil,"  ii.  26  sqq.,  iii.  178  sqq.  (the  lists  of  the  poems)  ; 
see  also  Wadding,  "Annales  Minorum,"  Roma,  1732,  v.  408 
sqq.,  vi.  'J^  sqq.  ;  and  Ozanam,  I.e.,  p.  91  sqq.  For  Jacopone  as 
poet,  see  above  all  the  fine  article  by  A.  D'Ancona,  "Jacopone 
da  Todi,  il  giullare  di  Dio  del  sec.  xiii.,"  in  the  "  Nuova  Antol," 
I.e.  p.  193  sqq.,  and  438  sqq.  ;  reprinted  in  the  "Studj  sulla  lett. 
ital.  de'  primi  secoli,"  Ancona,  1884,  p.  i  sqq.  The  poems  were 
edited  by  Francesco  Tresatti  :  "  Le  poesie  spirituali  del  B. 
Jacopone  da  Todi,"  Venezia,  161 7  ;  very  faulty  and  containing 
a  number  of  spurious  pieces.  A  fair  number  of  the  poems  were 
edited  in  an  improved  form  by  the  Padre  Bart.  Sorio,  in  the 
"  Poesie  scelte  di  Fra  Jacopone  da  Todi,"  Verona,  1858,  and  in 
the  "  Opuscoli  religiosi,  letterarj  e  morali,"  of  Modena,  from  ser. 
i.,  t.  3  to  ser.  il,  t.  3  (also  reprinted  separately).  See,  too,  Zambrini, 
"  Op.  vulg."  A  good  edition  is  still  wanting.  Notes  concerning 
MSS.  were  given  by  Bohmer,  "  Rom.  Stud.,"  i.  137  sqq.  E.  Per- 
copo,  "  Le  Laudi  di  Fra  Jacopone  da  Todi  nei  MSS.  della  Bib. 
naz.  di  Napoli"  (in  the  "  Propugnatore,"  xvii.  2^  p.  127,  376; 
xviii.  1°,  p.  106,  2«,  p.  136;  xix.  V\  p.  239),  gives  the  variants 
of  the  Neapolitan  MSS.,  and  the  bibliography  of  each  lauda^ 
and  discusses  the  authors  to  whom  they  may  be  attributed.  * 
Andrea  Moschetti,  "  I  codici  Marciani  contenenti  laude  di 
Jacopone  da  Todi,  descritti  ed  illustrati,"  Venezia,  1888.  *  The 
prose  pieces  attributed  to  him  are  not  mentioned  by  himself, 
buc  were  drawn  up  by  one  of  his  disciples  as  an  appendix  to  the 
biography,  in  which  form,  indeed,  they  appear  behind  the  early 
"Vita"  ("Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phil,"  iii.  187  sq.)  ;  see  on  this  point 
Gigli,  "Prose  edite  ed  inedite  di  Feo  Belcari,  Roma,  1843,  i., 
p.  Iii.  sqq.,  D'Ancona,  "Nuova  Antol,"  I.e.,  p.  469  ^ote,  and 
Zambrini,  "Op.  vulg.,"  p.  514.  The  original  form  of  these 
pieces  is  certainly  always  the  Latin  text.  A  Latin  compilation 
of  moral  axioms  by  medieval  and  classical  authors,  in  a  MS.  of 
the  Angelica  at  Rome,  is  attributed  to  the  Magister  Jacopo  of 
Todi,  under  the  title  "  Flos  Florum "  (cf.  Novati,  "  Carmina 
medii  aevi,"  p.  25,  note,  46  sq.,  49;  and  "Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett. 
ital,"  ii.  130,  note). 


360       HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Page  147.  Jacopone's  saying  is  given  according  to  the  text  in 
Wadding,  v.  412. 

Page  149.  The  imitation  of  the  devinalh  occurs  in  the  poem 
"Amor  di  caritate,"  stanza  19.  The  extent  to  which  Jacopone's 
poems  of  mystic  love  were  influenced  by  the  court  poetry  was 
noted  by  D'Ancona,  "  Nuova  Antol.,"  l.c.^  p.  225  sq. 

Page  150.  Jacopone's  poem,  "O  Gesu,  nostro  amatore," 
describes  the  dance  of  the  blessed  spirits  in  heaven.  Compare 
with  it  Bonaventura's  "  Dieta  Salutis,''  x.  cap.  6,  where,  how- 
ever, the  similarity  consists  only  in  the  general  subject-matter. 

Page  150.  *  F.  Flamini,  "SuUe  origini  della  laude,  dell' 
ottava  et  del  serventese  in  Italia"  ("Rev.  de  metrique  et  de 
versification,"  i.  i  sqq.).  * 

Page  150.  For  the  doubtful  authorship  of  the  "  Stabat  mater 
dolorosa,"  see  D'Ancona,  p.  469,  note.  The  "  Cur  mundus 
militat"  has  also  been  attributed  to  St.  Bernard  and  to  Walter 
Mapes  (see  Daniel,  "Thesaurus  hymnologicus,"  Leipzig,  1855, 
iv.  288  sqq.).  For  other  Latin  poems  that  stand  in  the  MSS. 
under  Jacopone's  name,  see  Tobler's' list,  "Ztschf.,"  iii.  187,  and 
that  of  Bohmer,  p.  156,  No.  129  sqq.  The  opposite  of  the 
"Stabat  mater  dolorosa  "—the  "Stabat  mater  speciosa"— 
became  more  widely  known  through  Ozanam.  One  of  the 
Parisian  MSS.  actually  contains  the  "Stabat  mater  dolorosa" 
twice,  and,  according  to  Gregorovius,  "  Gesch.  der  St.  Rom."  y. 
613,  note^  it  is  included  among  Jacopone's  poems  in  the  Capucin 
monastery  of  Monte  Santo,  near  Todi. 

Page  151.  In  the  case  of  the  poem,  "  Udii  una  voce,"  too, 
Jacopone's  authorship  is  not  entirely  free  from  doubt  (see 
D'Ancona,  p.  223,  note  4).  Sorio's  and  Nannucci's  only  au- 
thority is  Tresatti.  On  the  other  hand,  the  semetitese^  "Al 
nome  d'Iddio,"  is  in  Tobler's  list. 

Page  152.  Jacopone's  didactic  poem  begins  with  the  words  : 
"  Perch^  gli  uomin  domandano  detti  con  brevitate,  Favello  per 
proverbii  dicendo  veritate.  .  .  ."  Sorio  included  it  in  the 
"Opuscoli  religiosi,"  Modena,  i860,  t.  viii.,  corrected  according 
to  an  early  printed  version.  The  editors  erroneously  print 
each  verse  as  though  it  were  two.  Similar  is  the  poem  "  De 
Septem  Virtutibus,"  attributed  to  Henricus  Septimellensis,  in 
which  each  moral  doctrine  is  likewise  illustrated  by  some  pro- 
verbial saying  (relating  to  nature,  mostly  to  the  animal  kingdom) ; 
similar,  too,  the  "  Parabola;"  of  Alanus  de  Insulis. 

Page  152.  For  a  time  Jacopone's  poetry  was  (owing  to 
Ozanam,  Sorio,  and  Nannucci)  too  highly  esteemed  ;  this  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  several  pieces  were  wrongly  attributed  to 
him.  D'Ancona  has  definitively  put  a  stop  to  this  view,  and 
assigned  the  poet  his  true  position.  The  poem,  "  Di,  Maria 
dolce,"  is  by  Fra  Giovanni   Dominici   (fifteenth  century),  see 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL   NOTES      361 

D'Ancona,  p.  468;  the  "Maria  Vergine  bella"is  by  L.  Gius- 
tiniani,  see  ib..,  p.  469.  Nor  do  I  doubt  but  that  the  poem  "  Chi 
Gesu  vuole  amare"  (which  was  made  known  by  Mortara  and 
reprinted  by  Nannucci,  "  Man.,"  i.  392,  and  by  Sorio,  "  Opusc," 
iii.)  belongs  to  the  fifteenth  century,  too.  This  would  dispose 
of  the  theory  that  certain  passages  of  Dante  and  Petrarch  are 
imitated  from  Jacopone  (see  D'Ancona,  p.  194  sq.). 

Page  153.  For  the  two  poems  on  Christ  and  the  soul  see 
Ozanam,  I.e.,  p.  135  sqq..,  140  sqq.^  and  269.  The  best  edition  of 
the  poem  on  the  crucifixion  is  now  that  in  D'Ancona's  "  Origini 
del  Teatro,"  i.  142  sqq..,  where  will  also  be  found  information 
concerning  Jacopone's  other  dialogues  ;  they  are  enumerated  in 
the  "  Nuova  Antol.,"  I.e.,  p.  216,  note  2. 

Page  155.  That  the  performance  in  the  Prato  della  Valle 
took  place  in  1244  was  shown  by  Ebert,  "Jahrb.,"  v.  51.  Monaci 
and  D'Ancona  continue  to  give  the  date  1243. — For  the  origins 
of  the  drama,  in  general,  see  the  exhaustive  account  in 
D'Ancona's  "Origini,"  i.  19-88. 

Page  155  sq.  Monaci,  "Appunti  per  la  storia  del  teatro 
italiano  :  Uffizj  drammatici  dei  Disciplinati  dell'  Umbria,"  in  the 
"  Riv.  fil.  rom.,"  i.  235  sqq.  ;  ii.  29  sqq.—^^v^n  of  these  dramatic 
Imide  are  given  by  Monaci,  I.e.  ;  others  by  D'Ancona,  i.  124  sqq. 
Another  MS.  containing  fourteen  (mostly  dramatic)  laude^  in 
several  cases  identical  with  the  ones  contained  in  the  collections 
employed  by  Monaci,  was  described  by  G.  Mazzatinti,  who  pub- 
lished three  of  the  pieces  ("  Giorn.  fil.  rom.,"  iii.  85  sqq.).  The 
MS.  coming  from  the  Fraternita  di  S.  Maria  del  Mercato,  in 


Discipli 

Siena,"  in  the  "  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  ii.  273^^^.,  from  a  MS. 
of  the  year  1330  ;  these  appear  somewhat  unattractive,  to  judge 
from  the  specimens  given. — For  the  NeapoHtan  MS.  containing 
laude  of  Abruzzo,  see  Monaci,  "  Riv.  fil.  rom.,"  ii.  42.  They  are 
being  published  by  Percopo  in  the  "Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  vii. 
163,  345  '•>  *  the  final  instalment  appeared  in  vol.  xviii.  (1891), 
p.  215  sqq.^  and  an  appendix  was  published  in  vol.  xx.  (1892), 
p.  379  sqq.  G.  Mazzoni  and  C.  Appel,  "  Laudi  Cortonesi  del 
secolo  xiii.,"  Bologna,  1890.  E.  Bettazzi, "  Notizia  di  un  laudario 
del  sec.  xiii.,"  Arezzo,  1890.  The  same  scholar,  "Laudi  della 
citth  di  Borgo  S.  Sepolcro,"  in  the  "Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital." 
(1891),  xviii.  242  sqq.  E.  Monaci,  "  Annedoti  per  la  storia  let- 
teraria  dei  laudesi,  dei  disciplinati  e  dei  Bianchi  nel  medio 
evo,"  Roma,  1892  (from  the  "  Rendiconti  dell.  Accad.  dei 
Lincei").  * 

Page  158.     For  the  performance  at  Florence  see  D'Ancona, 
i.  88  sqq. 


fe/ 


362      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Pa^e  159  sqq.  Thirteenth  century  prose  is  treated  in  the 
third'Volume  of  Bartoli's  '*  Storia  lett,"  Firenze,  1880. 

Facre  iqg.  The  passage  from  Boncompagno  is  given  by 
Rocldnger,"  Quell,  u.  Erorter.,"  ix.  173.  /or  specimens  from 
Guido  Faba's  Italian  letters  see  ib.,  p.  185  sqq.  In  one  letter 
(p  iQi),  he  says  :  "  Quando  vego  la  vostra  splendiente  persona, 
per  la  grande  alegrec^a  me  par  che  sia  in  paradiso  ;  si  me  prende 
Id  vostro  amore,  dona  gensore  sovra  omne  bella.  1  he  close 
has  the  appearance  of  being  part  of  a  canzone.  „      ,     , 

Page  159  sq.  "  Ricordi  di  una  famiglia  senese,  ed.  by 
N.  Tommaseo  ("Arch.  stor.  ital.,"  Appendice,  vol.  v.,  No.  20, 
p.2^j<7<7.)— "Lettere  volgari  del  sec.  xiu.  scntte  da  Senesi,  ed. 
by  C.  Paoli  and  E.  Piccolomini,  Bologna,  1871.  *  "  Lettere  vol- 
gari del  sec.xiii.a  Geri  e  a  Guccio  Montanini,"  ed.  by  A.  Lisini, 

Siena,  1889.  *  ,        .,  r-    t^-     •    ut^ 

Page  160.  "Novellino."  For  the  title  see  G.  Biagi,  Le 
novelle  antiche  dei  codici  Panciatichiano-Palatino  138  e  Laur- 
enziano-Gaddiano  193,"  Firenze,  1880,  p.  cxxxix  sq.  The  Mbb. 
give  no  title,  except  the  Cod.  Panciatichi,  which  has  :  Libro  di 
novelle  e  di  bel  parlar  gentile."  This  was  adopted  by  Borghmi. 
The  title  "  Novellino,"  appeared  first,  according  to  Biagi,  in  tne 

Milan  edition  of  1836.  •   j  ,  xt       ir      »  fi^-of 

Page  162  sq.     A.  D'Ancona,  "  Le  Fonti  del  Novellino,    first 
published  in  "Romania,"  ii.  285,  iii.  164  ;  then,  with  additions, 
under  the  more  suitable  title  :  "  Del  Novellino  e  delle  sue  fonti, 
in  D'Ancona's  "  Studj  di  critica  e  storia  lett.,"  Bologna,  1880,  p. 
219  sqq.     In  some  cases  it  seems  possible  to  determine  the  irn- 
mediate  source  ;  as,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  Nov.  11  (Cod. 
Panciat.  14),  which  tells  of  the  physician  and  the  jealous  pupil, 
who  put  poison  on  the  patient's  tongue  so  that  his  death  nriight 
give  the  lie  to  the  master's  science.     This  story  is,  as  I  think, 
taken  direct  from  the  introduction  to  the  "  Liber  Ipocratis  de  m- 
firmitatibus  equorum,"  which  is  not  mentioned   by  D  Ancona 
(see  the  work  in  the  "Trattati  di  Mascalcia  attnbuiti  ad  Ippo- 
crate,"  ed.  by  L.  Barbieri,  Bologna,  1865,  p.  loisqq).     Here  the 
story  stands  in  its  true,  original  position,  in  order  to  show  how 
Hippocrates  came  to  study  veterinary  science,  and  it  is  clear 
hovv  the  author  of  the  "  Novellino"  intentionally  abbreviated  the 
narrative,  so  as  to  preserve  the  anecdotic  character  prevailing 
throughout  his  collection.     A  phrase  in  Gualteruzzi  s  text :     col 
dito  stremo  li  vi  puose  veleno,"  also  shows  that  the  tale  is  de- 
rived from  the  Latin  text,  which  has  "  posuit  vero  discipulus 
tossicus  private  in  estremum  {sic)  digiti  sui,"  and  not  from  the 
Italian  translations  printed  by  Barbieri  in  the  same  place  (for 
they  have  "nela  ponta  del  dito  suo,"  and"m  sommo  del  suo 
dito  ")  :  Gualteruzzi  is  here  more  original,  too,  than  Fanciaticm, 
which   has   "collo  dito   mignoro."      In  Gualteruzzi  s   text  the 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND   CRITICAL   NOTES      363 

master  is  called  Giordano,  which  name  the  novelist  may  have 
chosen  as  being  that  of  Jordanus  Ruffus,  a  famous  veterinary 
surgeon  of  the  time  at  the  court  of  Frederick  II. — Then,  again, 
Nov.  18,  in  its  original  form  (which  is,  in  this  case,  as  Bartoli 
rightly  remarked,  given  by  the  "  Cod.  Panciatichi,"  No.  22), 
obviously  goes  back  direct  to  the  Pseudo-Turpinus  (ed.  Castets, 
cap.  7),  so  exactly  do  they  agree.  For  the  fact  that  Nov.  64  is 
probably  taken  direct  from  one  of  the  Provengal  lives  of  the 
troubadours,  see  A,  Thomas,  "  Giorn.  fil.  rom.,"  iii.  fasc.  2. 
p.  12  sqq. 

Page  163.  I  do  not  agree  with  D.  Carbone,  who  maintained 
("  II  Novellino  ossia  Libro  di  bel  parlar  gentile,"  Firenze,  Bar- 
bara, 1868,  p.  v)  that  the  tales  are  merely  sketches,  which  the 
narrator  had  put  down  as  a  starting-point,  with  the  intention  of 
developing  and  supplementing  them  in  the  recital ;  in  any  case, 
this  theory  would  fit  in  only  with  the  very  short  tales,  by  no 
means  with  all  of  them. 

Page  164.  Bartoli's  arguments  in  favour  of  a  plurality  of 
authors  ("Stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  Firenze,  1880,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  186  sqq.^ 
and  232)  have  already  been  confuted  by  D'Ancona.  For  the 
date  and  author,  cf.  D'Ancona,  "  Studi,"  p.  243  sqq.  With  regard 
to  the  language,  the  Pisan  elements  are  too  sporadic,  even  in 
the  first  part  of  the  Cod.  Panciatichi,  to  be  due  to  the  author. 
The  "Novellino"  was  first  edited  by  C.  Gualteruzzi:  "  Le 
Ciento  novelle  antike,"  Bologna,  Benedetti,  1525.  Vincenzo  Bor- 
ghini  edited  the  book  in  1572  (Firenze,  Giunti)  in  a  different 
form  :  the  chief  points  of  variance  being  that  seventeen  of  the 
tales  are  replaced  by  others,  and  that  an  eighteenth  is  added,  as 
Gualteruzzi's  first  tale  is  regarded  as  the  prologue  and  does  not 
count.  D'Ancona  proved  that  Gualteruzzi's  text  alone  gives  the 
genuine  form,  and  assumed  that  Borghini's  variations  were  de- 
rived from  other  (partly  later)  sources,  and  do  not  represent  any 
one  MS.  The  correctness  of  this  theory  was  confirmed  when 
Guido  Biagi  discovered  Borghini's  papers,  in  which  he  himself 
gives  an  account  of  the  origin  of  his  alterations  (see  the  Introduc- 
tion to  Borghini's  publication,  mentioned  above,  and  especially, 
p.  245  sqq.  in  the  body  of  the  book).  Borghini  adopted  the 
principle  of  cutting  out  everything  connected  with  religion,  and 
consequently  made  alterations  of  his  own,  now  and  again,  with- 
out heeding  any  source.  This  was  characteristic  of  the  time, 
the  period  of  the  Catholic  reaction,  which  witnessed  a  similar 
process  of  mutilation  in  the  case  of  the  "  Decamerone."  To 
obtain  a  correct  idea  of  the  book,  we  have,  therefore,  now  to 
take  into  consideration  only  Gualteruzzi's  text,  which  was  re- 
printed by  Michele  Colombo  in  1825:  "  Le  cento  novelle 
antiche,  secondo  I'edizione  del  1525,"  Milano,  Tosi  [another 
edition,  Firenze,  Mazzini  e  Gaston,  1867].   All  the  other  editions 


364      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

(for  the  bibliography  of  which  see  Biagi)  reproduce  Borghini's 
text,  or  use  that  of  Gualteruzzi,  but  with  new  and   arbitrary 

changes.  ,.     ,  .     . 

Page  164  s^.     The  "Cod.  Panciatichi"  was  edited  in  its  en- 
tirety by  Biagi  ;  for  the  way  in  which  the  MS.  is  put  together 
see  p.  cxxv.  sgg.—Ba.noVi  made  his  conjecture  concerning  the 
priority  of  the  longer  tales  of  the  Cod.  Panciatichi  in  "  I  primi 
due  sec,"  p.  288  s^(/.,  and  then,  with  fresh  arguments,  but  more 
reservedly,  in  the  "  Stor.  lett.,"  iii.  190  sgg.     Here,  on  p.  201 
s^.y  we  read  :  "  mi  pare  che  non  sia  fuori  di  ogni  probability  il 
congetturare  che  un  tal  testo  ci  rappresenti  lo  stato  anteriore 
della  novella,  compendiata  poi.  ...  In  questa  opinione  ci  con- 
ferma  un  altro  fenomeno  ..."     I  quote  these  words  because  I 
have  been  accused  of  having  given  a  misleading  account  of 
Bartoli's   opinion.     In   the   tale   of  the   old  horse  (Gualt.   52, 
Panciat.  1 50)  the  shorter  version  is  more  effective  by  reason  of 
its  elegance  ;  thus  we  have  in  the  phrase  "  Li  giudici  si  adunaro 
e  videro  la  petizione  del  cavallo  "  a  happy  expression  which  does 
not  occur  in  the  Panciatichi  version.     And  is  the  latter  really 
free  from  any  superfluous  details?    Note  how  in  the  end  the 
same  thing  is  repeated  three  times  !    Bartoli  shows  admirably 
(p.  195  sqq.)  that  in  the  case  of  Nov.  18  the  genuine  and  original 
form  is  contained  in  the  Cod.  Panciat.,  No.  22,  which  is  con- 
firmed by  a  comparison  with  the  source  mentioned  above  (the 
"Turpinus") ;  but  the  tale  is  included  in  the  collection  of  the 
first  portion  of  the  Cod.  Panciat.,  and  does  not  prove  anything 
with  regard  to  the  second  portion,  this  being,  as  Biagi  showed, 
entirely  independent.— If  Gualteruzzi's  is  the  original  text,  this 
does  not  of  course  imply  that  the  MS.  printed  in  1525  is  alto- 
gether free  from  emendations  on  the  part  of  the  copyist.— Bartoli 
asks  how  the  compiler  of  the  MS.  Panciat.,  if  he  had  the  Gual- 
teruzzi text  before  him,  could  ever  have  come  to  change  the 
order  of  the  tales  in  so  strange  a  manner.   That,  of  course,  I  do 
not  know  ;  but  does  this  circumstance  justify  us  in  assuming  a 
different  source  ?    The  same  question  might  be  put  with  regard 
to  the  passages  from  Sidrach,  collected  in  the  Cod.  Panciat.  ; 
here,  too,  I  am  unable  to  discover  the  principle  and  purpose  of 
the  new  arrangement.     Besides,  Bartoli's  conjectures  do  not 
throw  any  light  on  the  arrangement  of  the  Cod.  Panciat.  either. 
Somebody  must  always  have  been  the  first  to  conceive  the  re- 
arrangement of  the  tales.     How  and  why  he  did  it,  it  is  difficult 
to  say  ;  who  can  fathom  all  the  caprices  of  copyists  and  com- 
pilers? ,.     ,  ,     _     -    . 
Page  166  sq.     "  Conti  di  antichi  cavalieri,"  edited  by  Fanfani, 
Firenze,  1881,  and  then  again,  faithfully  according  to  the  MS., 
by  P.  Papa  in  the  "  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  iii.  197  sqq.  ;  *  see 
the  same  journal,  viii.  487,  for  an  article  by  Papa  :  "  Un  codice 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL   NOTES      365 

ignorato  dei "  "  Conti  di  antichi  cavalieri."  *  For  the  source  of 
one  of  the  stories  in  the  "  Fouque  de  Candie,"  see  Bartoli,  "  I 
primi  due  sec,"  p.  292.  P.  Meyer  announces  in  the  "  Romania," 
xiv.  162,  that  he  has  discovered  the  sources  of  several  of  the 
tales  and  will  publish  them  soon.  For  a  Franco-Italian  version 
see  above,  close  of  note  to  p.  118. 

Page  167.  "  Sette  Savi":  Domenico  Comparetti,  "  Intorno 
al  librodei  sette  savi  di  Roma,"  Pisa,  1865.  D'Ancona's  edition 
appeared  in  Pisa,  1864.  Varnhagen,  "  Eine  italienische  Pro- 
saversion  der  Sieben  Weisen  Meister,"  Berlin,  1881.  The 
Latin  text,  discovered  by  Mussafia,  is  printed  in  the  "  Wiener 
Sitzungsber.,"  Phil.  Hist.  CI.  LVIL,  94  .f^$^.  The  two  transla- 
tions of  this  text  :  "  II  libro  dei  sette  savi  di  Roma,"  ed.  by 
A.  Cappelli,  Bologna,  1865,  and  "Libro  dei  setti  savi  di  Roma," 
alia  Libreria  Dante  in  Firenze,  1883,  edited  by  F.  Roediger. 
For  the  Venetian  poem,  discovered  and  edited  by  Rajna,  see 
["  Storia  di  Stefano  figliuolo  d'un  imperatore  di  Roma,"  Bologna, 
1880].  On  the  genealogy  of  the  Italian  versions,  see  Rajna's 
admirable  paper,  '*  Una  versione  in  ottava  rima  del  libro  dei 
sette  savi,"  in  the  "  Romania,"  vii.  22,  369  ;  x.  i  {e.g.^  vii.  372 
sqq.).  For  the  literature  of  the  Seven  Wise  Masters,  in  general, 
see  too:  Mussafia,  "Ueberdie  Quelle  des  altfrz.  Dolopathos," 
in  the  "Wiener  Sitzungsber.,"  xlviii.,  and  the  same  scholar's 
"  Beitrage  zur  Lit.  der  Sieben  Weisen  Meister,"  ib.  Ivii.  yj  sqq. 
For  the  Oriental  versions,  see  Comparetti,  "  Ricerche  intorno  al 
libro  di  Sindibad,"  Milano,  1869  ;  and,  for  the  Western  versions, 
G.  Paris'  Introduction  to  "  Deux  Redactions  du  Roman  des  Sept 
Sages  de  Rome,"  Paris,  1876  (in  reahty  1877). 

Page  169.  For  the  "  Tavola  Rotonda,"  see  Nannucci,  "  Man.," 
ii.  156  sqq.  Some  further  particulars  concerning  the  Riccard. 
MS.  and  passages  from  it  will  be  found  in  Polidori's  edition  of 
the  more  recent  "Tavola  Rotonda  "  in  the  Laurenziana  (Bologna, 
1864),  i.,  p.  xl  sqq.  ;  ii.,  p.  239  sqq.  For  information  concerning 
other  portions  printed  in  various  places  see  Zambrini,  "  Op. 
volg."  *  "  II  Tristano  riccardiano,"  edito  e  illustrato  da  E.  J. 
Parodi,  Bologna,  1896.  * 

Page  169.  For  Guido  delle  Colonne  see  A.  Joly,  "  Benoit  de 
Sainte-More,  etc,"  i.  470  sqq.  ;  Mussafia,  "  Sulle  versioni  italiane 
della  storia  trojana,"  Vienna,  1871  (from  the  "Sitzungsber., 
Ixvii.)  ;  R.  Barth,  "Guido  de  Columna,"  Dissertation,  Leipzig, 
1877.  *  E.  Monaci,  "Di  Guido  della  Colonna  trovadore  e 
della  sua  patria,"  Roma,  1892  (Estr.  dai  Rendic  dell'  Accad. 
dei  Lincei)  ;  V.  di  Giovanni,  "  Guido  delle  Colonne  giudice  di 
Messina,"  etc  (Rendic  della  Accad.  dei  Lincei,  serie  V., 
iii.  3).  * 

Page  169.  *  E.  Gorra,  "  Testi  inediti  di  storia  troiana," 
Torino,  1887;    H.   Morf,  "Notes  pour  servir  k  I'hist.   de   la 


366      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

legende  de  Troie  en  Italic"  ("Romania,"  xxi.  i8  sqq.,  88  sqq., 

xxiv.  174  sqq,).  * 

Page  170.  The  "  Fatti  di  Cesare,"  edited,  according  to  the 
Sienese  MS.,  by  L.  Banchi,  Bologna,  1863.  Of  the  version  in 
the  Riccardiana  only  a  few  passages  have  been  published  by 
Nannucci,  "  Man.,"  i.  407,  ii.  172,  and  by  Banchi,  p.  xxxv.  The 
Riccard.  MS.,  2814,  bears  the  date  April  28,  131 3,  and  appears 
to  be  the  autograph,  to  judge  from  the  omission  of  words  that 
did  not  occur  at  once  to  the  translator  ;  this  was  assumed  already 
by  Nannucci.  That  the  text  contained  the  beginning  of  the 
romance,  too,  is  probable,  because  the  first  160  pages  of  the 
MS.  are  missing  (see  Banchi,  p.  Ix).  The  French  original, 
which  should  be  carefully  distinguished  from  Jehan  de  Tuim's 
"  Hist,  de  Julius  Cesar,"  and  from  the  poetical  version  of  this 
by  Jacot  de  Forest,  is  contained  in  a  large  number  of  MSS.; 
cf.  Mussafia,  "  Jahrb.,"  vi.,  109  sqq.,  Settegast,  "Giorn.  fil.  rom.," 
ii.  176  ;  Stengel,  "Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  v.  174  ;  Bartoli,  "  Stor. 
lett.,"  iii.  48,  note  4.  The  MS.  of  S.  Mark,  which  was  used  by 
Banchi  and  belonged  to  the  Gonzaga  (p.  xxi.),  is  certainly  iden- 
tical with  No.  12  of  the  inventory  dated  1407  ("  Romania,"  ix. 
507).  The  French  romance  is  not  printed  ;  but  long  passages 
from  it,  which  are  given  by  Gellrich,  "  Die  Intelligenza"  (Breslau, 
1883),  enable  us  to  compare  it  with  the  Italian  texts.  That  of 
the  Riccard.  appears  to  be  nothing  but  a  literal  translation.  If 
the  MS.  of  St.  Mark  gave  the  exact  original,  it  would  follow  that 
the  "  Fatti  "  are  derived  both  from  it  and  from  the  Riccard.  text  ; 
but  the  amalgamation  would  be  without  any  system,  and  is 
therefore  improbable.  The  French  original  was  undoubtedly 
constituted  somewhat  differently,  seeing  that  even  the  Riccard. 
text,  which  mostly  corresponds  word  for  word,  now  and  again 
differs  from  the  MS.  of  St.  Mark,  and  Mussafia  is  probably  right 
in  his  assumption  that  both  the  Italian  versions  are  translated 
from  the  French  independently  of  each  other.— We  must  now 
add  P.  Meyer's  article,  "  Les  premii^res  compilations  fran(;aises 
d'histoire  ancienne  "  ("  Romania," xiv.  i  sqq.),  which  contains  an 
enumeration  of  the  MSS.  of  the  French  original,  an  analysis  and 
a  number  of  extracts.  The  real  title  was  probably  "  Li  fait  des 
Romains,"  and  the  narrative  was  intended  to  go  down  to  Do- 
mitian  ;  but  only  the  first  book,  on  Julius  Caesar,  was  written. 
Already  Brunetto  Latini  availed  himself  of  it.  As  for  the  rela- 
tion between  the  two  Italian  versions  and  the  French  original, 
Meyer  (p.  32)  confirms  Mussafia's  opinion.  *  C.  G.  Parodi, 
*'  La  storia  di  Cesare  nella  letteratura  italiana  dei  primi  secoli " 
(in  the  "  Studi  di  fil.  rom.,"  iv.  322  sqq.)  * 

Page  170.  "  Dodici  Conti  Morali,"  ed.  by  Zambrini,  Bologna, 
1862  ;  they  are  discussed  by  Kohler,  "  Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  i. 
365  sqq. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL   NOTES      367 

Page  171.  ["  Chronichetta  Pisana,"  ed.  by  E.  Piccolomini, 
Pisa,  1877,  "per  nozze  Teza."  I  am  acquainted  with  it  only 
from  the  notice  in  the  "  Rassegna  settimanale,"  iii.  210  sqq.\ 

Page  171.  The  latest  edition  of  Spinello  is  that  of  Vigo  and 
Dura:  "Annali  di  Matteo  Spinelli  di  Giovenazzo,"  Napoli, 
Dura,  1872.  W.  Bernardi,  "Matteo  di  Giovinazzo,  eine  Fal- 
schung  des  16.  Jahrh.,"  Berlin,  1868  ("  Programm"  of  the  Louisen- 
stadt.  Gymn.).  Camillo  Minieri  Riccio,  "  I  notamenti  di  M. 
Sp.  da  Giovinazzo  difesi  ed  illustrati,"  Napoli,  1870  ;  the  same 
scholar  :  "  Ultima  confutazione  agli  oppositori  di  M.  Sp.,"  ib., 
1875.     [B.  Capasso,  "Sui  diurnali  di  M.  Sp.,"  Napoli,  1872]. 

Page  172.  Scheffer-Boichorst's  paper  on  the  Malespini  ap- 
peared first  in  Sybel's  "  Histor.  Zeitschr.,"  then  in  "  Florentiner 
Studien,"  Leipzig,  1874,  p.  3  sqq.  Todeschini,  "  Scritti  su  Dante," 
Vicenza,  1872,  i.  364-372  (the  author  had  died  in  1869,  and  the 
article  was  written  in  1853).  Doubts  concerning  the  authenticity 
of  the  work  were  felt  as  early  as  the  sixteenth  century  (see  also 
Cesare  Paoli,  "  Studi  suUe  fonti  della  storia  fiorentina,"  v.,  in 
the  "  Arch.  stor.  ital.,"  ser.  iii.,  t.  2 1 ,  p.  45 1  sqq).  The  points  made 
by  Gino  Capponi,  "  Storia  della  repubblica  di  Firenze  "  (Firenze, 
1875),  i,  661  sqq.,  are  of  slight  importance.  Paoli  held  that 
Malespini  might  have  used  some  other  old  Italian  source,  in 
addition  to  Villani.  R.  Renier,  "  Liriche  di  Fazio  degli  Uberti" 
(Firenze,  1883)  p.  xvii.,  note  3,  thinks  that,  though  Malespini's 
chronicle  was  composed  later  than  Villani's,  it  is,  nevertheless, 
earlier  than  the  date  assumed  by  Scheffer-B.,  and  mentions 
a  MS.  in  the  Ashburnham  Library,  which  was  unknown  till 
then,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  written  before  1355.  Bartoli, 
"  Stor.  lett.,"  V.  7,  7iote^  now  doubts  Scheffer-B.'s  result,  quotes 
Malespini  as  an  historical  source,  and  says  that  the  researches 
of  a  certain  Dr.  Lami  will  throw  light  on  the  matter.  *  Vittorio 
Lami,  "  Di  un  compendio  inedito  della  cronica  di  G.  Villani 
nelle  sue  relazioni  con  la  storia  fiorentina  Malespiniana,"  Firenze, 
1890.  * 

Page  172.  "Chronica  Fr.  Salimbene  Parmensis,"  Parma, 
1857  ("  Monumenta  historica  ad  provincias  Parmensem  et  Pla- 
centinam  pertinentia,"  iii.),  badly  printed  from  a  mutilated  copy. 
For  the  omissions,  cf.  especially  Fr.  Novati,  in  the  "Giorn  stor.d. 
lett.  ital.,"  i.  38  sqq.,  and  for  Salimbene  the  fine  work  of  A.  Dove : 
"  Die  Doppelchronik  von  Reggio  u.  die  Ouellen  Salimbene's," 
Leipzig,  1873.  *  Emil  Michael,  "  Salimbene  u.  seine  Chronik," 
Innsbruck,  1889.  * 

Page  175.  Sundby  writes  "  Latino,"  because  the  name  occurs 
twice  in  this  form  in  the  "  Tesoretto  "  (i.  xx.)  But  this  does  not 
prove  that  he  did  not  call  himself  "  Latini,"  too,  according  to 
Florentine  usage.  The  documents  published  by  Del  Lungo 
mostly  give  "  Burnectus  Latinus,"  but   the   late   ones  (xxvii. 


'1 


368      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

XXX.  xxxi.),  also  "  Burnectus  Latini."  Villani  appears  already  to 
have  written  "  Latini,"  and  this  was  the  form  always  employed 
later.  For  the  matter  of  that,  if  we  are  to  be  so  ultra-precise 
with  regard  to  the  name,  we  should  write  Burnetto,  not  Brunetto ; 
for  the  former  appears  regularly  in  the  documents  and  in  the 
earliest  MSS.  of  the  "  Tesoretto."  The  whole  question  appears 
to  me  pedantic. — Now  R.  Renier,  too,  decides  in  favour  of  the 
form  "  Latini,"  as  following  the  Florentine  usage  in  the  matter 
of  family  names  (see  the  Introduction  to  his  translation  of  Thor 
Sundby^s  "Delia  vitae  delle  opere  di  Br.  Latini,"  pp.  ix.-xvi.),  and 
rightly  prefers  also  the  pronunciation  "  Brunetto,"  in  spite  of  the 
frequency  of  the  other  form  in  early  times. 

Page  176.  The  view  held  by  Zannoni  (p.  xiii.)  and  by  Sundby 
(p.  12  ;  in  the  translation,  p.(9)that  Brunetto  returned  to  Florence 
after  the  battle  of  Montaperti  and  was  not  banished  till  then,  is 
not  reconcilable  with  the  narrative  at  the  beginning  of  the 
"  Tesoretto."  When  he  says  in  the  "Tresor"  that  he  was  ex- 
pelled with  the  Guelfs,  this  may  refer  to  a  decree  of  exile  in  ab- 
sentia; see  on  this  point  Del  Lungo,  in  Sundby-Renier,  p.  212, 
note. 

Page  176.  Giov.  Villani  (viii.  10)  gives  the  date  of  Brunetto's 
death  as  1294  ;  but  this  is  the  Florentine  year,  which  lasted  till 
March  25th,  1295.  Brunetto's  biography  in  Zannoni,  "  II  Teso- 
retto e  il  Favoletto  di  Ser  Brunetto  Latini,"  Firenze,  1824,  In- 
troduction; Fauriel,  in  the  "Hist.  litt.  de  la  France,"  xx.  276 
sqq.  ;  Thor  Sundby,  "  Brunetto  Latino  Levnet  og  Skrifter," 
Kjobenhaven,  1869  (translated  by  Rod.  Renier:  "Delia  vita  e 
delle  opere  di  Brunetto  Latini,"  monografia  di  Thor  Sundby, 
Firenze,  1884) — of  great  importance  for  the  indication  of  the 
sources  of  Brunetto's  works.  +  Umberto  Marchesini,  "Due 
studi  biografici  su  Brunetto  Latini,"  Venezia,  1887  ;  the  same  : 
"  Brunetto  Latini,  notaio,"  Verona,  1890.  * — An  autograph  docu- 
ment proving  Brunetto  to  have  been-a  notary  at  Paris  on  Sep- 
tember 15th,  1263,  is  said  to  be  published  in  the  "  Rassegna 
italiana,"  anno  v.,  vol.  i.,  p.  360  sqq.  (see  "  Riv.  Crit.,"  ii.  126). 
That  Brunetto  in  April  of  the  year  1270  (1271  according  to 
Pisan  reckoning)  came  to  Pisa  as  notary  of  Charles  of  Anjou's 
Vicar,  and  as  his  legate,  is  clear  from  Muratori,  "  Script.,"  xxiv. 
674.  And  here  we  see,  too,  that  the  Vicar  was  Johannes 
Brittaldi,  and  not  William  of  Monfort,  as  Zannoni  and  Sundby 
conjectured.  Brunetto's  public  life  at  Florence  is  treated 
admirably  by  Del  Lungo  in  the  first  appendix  to  Renier's 
translation  of  Sundby,  p.  201  sqq.  (this  paper  first  appeared  in 
the  "Arch.  stor.  ital."),  where  several  errors  are  disproved, 
notably  the  exaggerated  idea  that  had  been  formed  of  Brunetto's 
political  importance;  ib.,  p.  214  sqq.  are  printed  thirty-five 
documents  dealing  with  his  participation  in  the  meetings  of  the 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      369 

councils  from  1282  till  1292.— The  "Tre'sor"  was  edited  by 
Chabaille  :  "  Li  livres  dou  Tresor  par  Brunetto  Latini,"  Paris, 
1863  ("Collection  de  documents  inedits  sur  Thistoire  de 
France  ").— The  indications  concerning  the  sources  of  the 
"Tresor"  I  have  given  according  to  Sundby;  that  Brunetto, 
for  the  historical  portion  of  the  enlarged  version,  availed  him- 
self of  Martino  Polono,  is  shown  by  Hartwig,  "Quell,  u. 
Forsch.,"  ii.  213.  That  this  second  version  is  by  Brunetto 
himself  is  at  least  very  probable,  among  other  reasons  for  the 
spirit  it  expresses  ;  this  was  P.  Paris'  assumption,  but  it  is  true 
that  doubts  may  be  urged  against  it  (see  Mussafia  in  Sundby- 
Renier,  p.  858  sq.). 

Page  179.  The  "Oculus  Pastoralis"  in  Muratori,  "Antiq. 
ital.,"  iv.  93  sqq.  A.  Mussafia,  "Sul  testo  del  Tesoro  di  Br. 
Latini,"  Vienna,  1869,  reprinted  in  Sundby-Renier,  p.  281  sqq.. 
see  especially  pp.  370-374. 

Page  180.  The  MS.  of  the  Riccardiana  gives  Ristoro's  work 
in  its  true  form,  and  is  perhaps  the  autograph.  A  specimen 
from  it  is  printed  in  Nannucci,  ii.  193,  but  it  is  unreliably 
edited  ;  for  example,  the  supposed  verse  from  Dante  (p.  201, 
note  9,  probably  introduced  by  Nannucci  himself)  is  wanting 
m  the  MS.  (see  Narducci's  remarks  in  "La  Composizione  del 
Mondo  di  Ristoro  d'Arezzo,"  Roma,  1859,  P-  Ixxx.  sq.).  The 
begmnmg  of  the  Riccard.  MS.  is  given  by  Bartoli,  "Stor.  lett.  " 
iii.  325  sqq.  Narducci's  edition  of  it  (reprinted  at  Milan  in 
1864,  the  publisher  being  Daelli)  is  based  on  a  fifteenth  century 
MS.,  in  which  the  dialectical  colouring  was  suppressed  (cf.  Mus- 
safia, "Jahrb.,"  x.  114  sqq.,  and  xi.,  close  of  part  i.). 

Page  181.  Brunetto's  "Rettorica"  was  printed  at  Rome  in 
1546,  and  at  Naples  in  185 1.  I  have  not  seen  it ;  according  to 
Zannoni  ("Tesoretto,"  p.  xxxviii)  it  was  dedicated  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Salerno,  Matteo  della  Porta— the  person  at  whose 
request  Guido  delle  Colonne  wrote  his  "  Hist.  Troj."  Renier  in 
the  "Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  iv.  421,  doubts  whether  the 
*  Rettorica  "  is  rightly  attributed  to  Brunetto,  seeing  that  it  is 
largely  based  on  the  portion  of  the  "Tresor"  that  deals  with 
rhetoric— [Paolo  Orosio,  "Delle  storie  contra  i  pagani  libri 
vii.,  volg.  di  Bono  Giamboni,"  ed.  by  Fr.  Tassi,  Firenze,  1849. 
— Flavio  Veggio,  "  Dell'  arte  della  guerra,"  ed.  by  Fr.  Fontani, 
Firenze,  181 5.]  For  Guidotto,  see  Giamboni's  treatise,  "Delia 
miseria  dell'  uomo,"  etc.,  Firenze,  1836,  ed.  by  Tassi,  who  refers 
to  Manni.  Nannucci  (ii.  1 16)  has  only  copied  Tassi  (or  Manni  ?) 
See,  further,  Zambrini,  "Op.  volg.,"  500,  and  Bartoli,  "Stor! 
lett.,  111.  122  sq.  The  work  has  been  edited,  among  others,  by 
B.  Gamba,  "  Frate  Guidotto  da  Bologna,  II  Fiore  di  Rettorica," 
Venezia,  1821.  Manni's  edition  gives,  according  to  Bartoli,  a 
different  version,  as  do  several  MSS.     That  the  work  is  derived 

1-  B  B 


in 

11 


370      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

from  the  Rhetoric,  "ad  Herennium,"  and  not  from  Cicero's  "  De 
Inventione,"  was  pointed  out  by  Nannucci,   ii.   115.     On  the 
subject   of  the  somewhat  unintelligible   words,   m   Guidotto's 
Introduction,  concerning  a  compendium  on  rhetoric  by  Virgil, 
see  Comparetti,  "  Virgilio  nel  M.  E.,»  i.  178.    For  an  allegorical 
Bestiary,  attributed  to  Guidotto  of  Bologna  in  a  Neapolitan 
MS.,  see  "  Propugnatore,"  xiv.  2«,  p.  162.— A.  Gazzani,  "Frate 
Guidotto  da  Bologna,  Studio  storico  critico"  (Bologna,  1884), 
endeavours  to  show  that  the  work  was  really  written  by  Guidotto, 
seeing  that,  of  the  many  MSS.,  only  a  single  one  (Riccard., 
2338  belonging  to  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century)  indicates 
Bono  Giamboni  as  the  author  ;  besides,  Giamboni  was  scarcely 
old  enough  for  someone  writing  before  1266  to  be  able  to  father 
a  work  of  his.     The  new  text  published  by  Gazzani  (p.  t2,sqq.) 
is,  "  Proemi  sopra  varie  maniere  di  dire,"  which  in  the  majority 
of  MSS.  follows  Guidotto's  work  ;  they  are  moral  axioms,  which 
might  serve  as  an  introduction  to  speeches.     Is  the  "  Libro  del 
Fiore  de'  filosofi  e  di  molti  savi,"  which  is  contained  in  a  MS. 
of  the  Bibl.  Naz.  at  Florence,  and  which  G.  considers  unedited, 
and  is  inclined  to  ascribe  to  Guidotto  too  (p.  72),  different  from 
the  well-known  "  Fiore  di  rettorica,"  long  published?    To  judge 
from  the  description  of  the  MSS.  given  by  Gazzani,  the  title  of 
Guidotto's  book  was  never  *'  Fiore  di  rettorica,"  but  "  Rettorica 
di  TuUio,"  or  "  Rettorica  nuova  di  Tullio  "  ;  so  that  this  name 
is  perhaps  of  Gamba's  invention.—*  Felice  Tocco,  "  II  fior  di^ 
Rettorica  e  le  sue  principali  redazioni  secondo  1  codici  fiorentini 
(in  the  "Giorn.  stor.  di  lett.  ital.,"  xiv.  337-364)-  *—["  Cicerone, 
Le  tre  orazioni  dette  dinanzi  a  Cesare,  volg.  da  Br.  Latmi,    ed. 
by  Rezzi,  Milano,  1832  ;  alsoNapoH,  1850.— "  La  prima  orazione 
di  M.  Tullio  Cicerone  contra  Catilina,  volgar.  da  ser  Br.  Latini, 
ed.  by  Manuzzi,  Firenze,  1834.]    A  specimen  from  the  latter  is 
given  by  Nannucci,  ii.  295  sqq.    The  passages  from  Sallust  are 
in  Nannucci,  ii.  269  sqq.     For  the  rest,  even  the  corresponding 
passages  in  the  "  Tresor  "  are  not  taken  direct  from  Sallust,  but 
from  the  O.  Fr.  "  Faits  des  romains,"  as  was  shown  by  P.  Meyer, 
"  Romania,"  xiv.  24.     However,  to  judge  from  the  short  speci- 
men given  by  Meyer,  the  Italian  text  follows  Brunetto,  and  not 
his  French  source.— The  latest  edition  of  the  '*  Etica  di  Aris- 
totile  compendiata  da  ser  Br.  Latini "  is  that  of  Venezia,  1 844- 
In  some  MSS.  this  "Etica"  is  attributed  to  a  certain  Taddeo 
rippocratista  (the  physician)  of  Florence  or  of  Pescia,  and  Dante 
appears   to   allude  to   it,  disparagingly,  in   the  "  Convivio,"  1. 
10  (see  Giuliani's  note  on  this  passage,  and  Sundby-Renier, 
p.  140  sqq.).    This  makes  it  puzzling  to  establish  the  connection 
of  the  work  with  the  "  Tresor."— Bono  Giamboni's  "  Delia  forma 
di  onesta  vita  di  Martino  vescovo  dumense  "  was  last  edited  by 
Gamba,  Venezia,  1 830,  who  made  the  derivation  of  the  work  clear. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      37 1 

Page  182.  "  Cato  : "  In  Eberardus'  "  Laborintus,"  i.  71  (L^y- 
ser,  "  Hist.  poet,  et  poem,  medii  aevi,"  p.  800)  we  read  :  Inde 
tenet  {i.e.^  the  schoolmaster)  parvos  lacerata  fronte  Catones  ; 
Illos  ciisciptdi  per  metra  bi?ia  legunt.-—K  Tobler,  "Die  alt- 
venezianische  Uebersetzung  der  Spruche  des  Dionysius  Cato," 
Berlin,  1883  (from  the  "Abhandl.  der  Berlin,  Akad.  d.  W."), 
with  an  admirable  introduction  (mainly  philological).—"  Libro  di 
Cato,  o  tre  volgarizzamenti  del  Libro  di  Catone,"  ed.  by  M. 
Vannucci,  Milano,  1829.  Two  of  them  are  probably  those  of 
the  Laurent.  MSS.  mentioned  by  Biagi  ("Le  antiche  novelle,'* 
p.  xcii.).  For  other  later  Italian  translations,  cf.  Bartoli,  "  Stor. 
lett.,"  iii.  93,  note,  and  Tobler,  I.e.,  p.  3  note. 

Page  182  sq.     "Fiore  di  filosofi  e  di  mohi  savi,"  ed.  by  A. 
Cappelli,  Bologna,  1865.     That  it  is  not  by  Brunetto  was  shown 
by  Cappelli  (p.  xvi.) ;  see,  too,  D'Ancona,  "  Studi  di  critica," 
p.  259,  and  Bartoli,  "Stor.  lett.,"  iii.  216.     For  the  points  of 
difference  between   the  versions,   cf.   Bartoli,   p.   219.      Very 
different,  again,  was  the  collection  from  which  Mone  published 
the   sayings   of  Secundus,  in   the  "Anzeiger  fur   Kunde  der 
teutschen  Vorzeit,"  viii.,  323  sqq,  (according  to  a  parchment 
MS.,  dated  1475,  privately  owned  at  Carlsruhe).    The  defini- 
tions according  to  a  Riccard.  MS.  as  given  by  Bartoli,  "  II  Libro 
di  Sidrach,"  Bologna,  1868,  p.  xxvi.  sq.,  tally  with  the  "Fiore," 
save   that   some  questions  and  answers  are  missing.      Those 
portions  of  the  "  Fiore  "  which  are  contained  in  the  Panciat. 
collection  of  the  "  Novelle  antiche"  (Nos.  86  sqq}^  belong  to  the 
version  that  was  published  by  Cappelli.     In  Mone's  version  the 
sayings  of  Secundus  are  more  numerous,  and  often  differ  con- 
siderably. *     Herm.  Varnhagen,  "Ueber  di  *Fiori  e  vita  di 
filosofi   ed  altri   savii  ed  imperatori,'  nebst  dem  italienischen 
Texte,"  Eriangen,  1893.  *     For  the  origin  and  development  of 
the  curious  practice  of  question  and  answer  exempHfied  in  this 
section  of  Secundus,  see  W.  Wilmanns,  "Disputatio  Pippini 
cum  Albino  "  (in  the  "  Ztschf.  f.  dtschs.  Alterthum,"  Neue  Folge, 
ii.  ^y:>sqq.).    A  Parisian  MS.  contains  an  O.  Fr.  work,  "  D'un 
philosophe  ki  fu  apieles  Secont "  (see  "  Gui  de  Cambrai,  Barlaam 
u.  Josaphat,"  ed.  by  H.  Zotenberg  and  P.  Meyer,  Stuttgart,  1864, 
p.  332).    The  little  story  of  Socrates  and  the  two  wives  is  con- 
tained in  S.  Girolamo's  "Adversus  Jovinianum,"  i.  48;  but  I 
do  not  think  that  the  "Fiore"  took  it  direct  from  this  source. 

Page  184.  Albertanus'  "  Liber  consolationis"  is,  in  the  MSS., 
dated  April  and  May,  1246.  In  the  codex  of  Pistoja  Ciampi 
read  :  •  .  .  conpuose  neli  anni  1246  del  inese  d^abrile,  ed  imago- 
regato  in  su  qiiesto  volgare  fieli  anni  1275  .  .  .,  where  the  mon- 
strous word  imagoregato  gave  the  editor  much  trouble.  We 
must  read  :  d^abrile  e  di  viagio,  regato  .  .  .  ;  from  which  it 
becomes  clear  that  this  treatise,  at  any  rate,  was  rendered  into 


I 


J 


Iff 


I 


:l  i 


372      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Italian  by  Soffredi  in  1275  (to  which  year  the  date  of  the  trans- 
lation should  be  altered  above,  in  the  body  of  the  book).  The 
"  De  arte  loquendi "  was  newly  edited,  with  accurate  indications 
concerning  the  sources,  by  Sundby  in  the  Appendix  to  "  Bru- 
nette Latinos  Levnet,"  p.  Ixxxv.  sqq.  (in  the  Italian  trans,  p.  475 
sqq.\  and  again  by  the  same  scholar:  "Albertani  Brixiensis 
liber  consolationis  et  consilii,"  Havniic,  1873.— "Dei  Trattati 
morali  di  Albertano  da  Brescia,  volgarizzamento  fatto  nel  1268 
da  Andrea  da  Grosseto,"  ed.  by  Selmi,  Bologna,  1873  (^^  the 
end  of  each  treatise  is  inserted  the  year,  the  name  of  the  trans- 
lator and  the  place  at  which  he  is  staying— Paris).  "Vol- 
garizzamento dei  tratt.  morali  di  Alb.  giudice  di  Brescia  da 
Soffredi  del  Grazia,"  ed.  by  Seb.  Ciampi,  Firenze,  1832,  faith- 
fully according  to  the  MS.  The  partial  agreement  of  the 
two  versions  was  noted  by  Selmi,  p.  xv.  Concerning  three 
other  somewhat  later  translations,  see  Bartoli,  "Stor.  lett.," 
iii.  96. 

Page  186.  Egidio  Romano,  "Del  Reggimento  de'  Principi, 
volgarizzamento  trascritto  nel  1288,"  ed.  by  Fr.  Corrazini, 
Firenze,  1858. — An  imitation  of  Egidio's  work  (but  belonging  to 
the  fourteenth  century)  is,  as  Mussafia  showed,  the  treatise  of 
Fra  Paolo  Minorita,  in  the  Venetian  dialect,  entitled,  "  De 
Regimine  Rectoris"  (edited  by  Mussafia,  Vienna,  Firenze, 
1868).  If  the  book  is  addressed  to  Marino  Badoer,  Duke  of 
Crete,  it  was  begun  between  1313  and  131 5  ;  in  any  case  the 
work  must  have  been  composed  between  1313  and  1322,  as  the 
schism  of  the  Empire  is  mentioned  in  Chap.  68.  In  addition 
to  the  later  Bishop  of  Pozzuoli,  there  was  at  that  time  another 
Fra  Paolo  Minorita,  who  made  peace  at  Padua  on  March  2nd, 
1323,  and  died  shortly  after  at  Trent  (see  "Cortusiorum  His- 
toria  de  Novitatibus  Paduae,"  iii.  2). 

Page  186.  "  II  Tesoro  di  Br.  Latini,  volgar.  da  Bono  Giam- 
boni,"  ed.  by  L.  Carrer,  Venezia,  1839.  Now  there  is  the  new 
edition  of  L.  Gaiter,  Bologna,  1878  sqq.  For  the  text  and  its 
surprising  divergencies  according  to  the  various  MSS.,  see  A. 
Mussafia,  "Sul  testo  del  Tesoro  di  Br.  Latini,"  Vienna,  1869, 
reprinted  in  Sundby-Renier,  p.  281  sqq.  Doubts  concerning  the 
attribution  of  the  work  to  Giamboni  are  expressed  by  Bartoli, 
"  Stor.  lett,"  iii.  83  sq. — For  similar  doubts  in  the  case  of  the 
"Giardino  della  consolazione,"  see  ib.^  p.  116,  and  of  the  "  In- 
troduzione,"  ib.^  p.  100  sq.  Some  scholars  have  attributed  the 
latter  to  Dom.  Cavalca.  Bartoli  (p.  107),  in  common  with 
others,  regards  it  as  a  translation  from  the  Latin  ;  but  no  such 
original  is  known.  Giamboni  appears  as  giudice  ordinario  of 
the  "Sesto"  of  Por  S.  Piero  in  a  document  dated  March  13th, 
1262  (see  "Riv.  crit.,"  iii.,  95).  *  A.  D'Ancona,  "II  tesoro  di 
Br.  Latini  versificato,"  Roma,  1889.    G,  Rua,  "Un  altra  tra- 


BIBLIOGRAFHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      373 

duzione  italiana  del  'Tesoro'  di  B.  Latini  per  opera  di  Celio 
Malespini,"  in  the  "  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  xvi.,  432  sqq.  * 

Page  192.  The  portion  of  the  "Roman  de  la  Rose"  written 
by  Jehan  de  Meung  often  goes  back  to  the  treatises  of  Alanus 
de  Insulis.  The  verses  on  the  dwelling  of  Fortuna  (6657-6814) 
are  simply  translated  from  the  "  Anticlaudianus,"  vii.,  8  and  9  ; 
and  the  beginning  of  viii.  is  also  subsequently  made  use  of. 
Verses  16827-20601  are  largely  based  on  the  "  Planctus 
Naturae";  the  fundamental  notion,  that  man  alone,  among  all 
creatures,  is  disobedient  and  ungrateful  towards  Nature,  is  taken 
from  Alanus,  who  fills  a  folio  page  (in  the  "  Alani  Opera,"  ed. 

E.  de  Vich,  Antverpiae,  1654,  p.  294),  with  the  same  matter 
which,  owmg  to  the  loquacious  style  and  the  digressions,  oc- 
cupies \yell-nigh  3,800  verses  in  Jehan's  poem.  The  excom- 
munication of  the  Genius  goes  back  to  the  close  of  the  "  Planctus 
Naturae." 

Page  192.     "  II  Fiore,  poeme  italien  du  XIII«  siecle,"  ed.  by 

F.  Castets,  Montpellier  and  Paris,  1881.  The  author  is  a 
notary  (Ser  Durante),  and  can,  therefore,  not  be  Dante  da 
Majano,  much  less  Dante  Alighieri  ;  and  the  passages  in 
Castets  dealing  with  this  matter  and  drawing  impious  parallels 
between  the  "  Roman  de  la  Rose  "  and  the  "  Commedia,"  lose 
their  point.  Borgognoni  and  Renier  (see  "Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett. 
ital.,"  iv.  424  sq.)  saw  in  the"  Ser  Durante"  not  the  name  of  the 
author,  but  the  allegorical  name  of  the  lover  {  =  Costante)  \  see, 
against  this,  D'Ancona,  "  Varietal  storiche  e  letterarie,"  Milano, 
1885,  serie  ii.,  p.  23,  note,  and  ib.,  p.  i  sqq.,  for  the  "Fiore"  in 
general ;  cf.  also  the  "  Literaturbl.  f.  germ.  u.  rom.  Phil.,"  1886, 
p.  234  sqq. 

Page  193.  A  minute  description  of  feminine  beauty,  like  that 
of  Brunetto's  Natura,  only  far  more  detailed  and  therefore  in 
worse  taste,  will  be  found  in  Alanus's  "  De  Planctu  Naturze " 
(p.  282),  again  with  reference  to  Natura;  and  in  the  "Anti- 
claudianus," i.  7,  in  connection  with  Prudentia.  Such  enumera- 
tions of  the  hair,  forehead,  eyebrows,  eyes,  nose,  etc.,  were 
usual  in  the  O.  Fr.  romances. 

Page  195  sq.  For  the  relation  between  the  "  Tesoretto"  and 
the  "Tresor,"  see  further  particulars  in  the  "Ztschf.  f.  rom. 
Phil.,"  iv.  390  sq.  Brunetto,  by  the  way,  called  the  poem 
"  Tesoro  "  in  two  passages  where  he  named  it;  the  title  "Teso- 
retto,"  given  to  distinguish  it  from  the  "  Tresor,"  was  probably 
adopted  when  the  latter  had  been  translated  into  Italian.  The 
poem  was  newly  edited  by  B.  Wiese,  according  to  the  MSS., 
with  an  introduction  dealing  with  these  and  with  the  language, 
in  the  "Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  vii.  236  sqq.  See  on  this 
Mussafia,  in  the  "  Literaturbl.  f.  germ.  u.  rom.  Phil,"  1884,  P-  24 
sqq. ;  ♦  see,  too,  Wiese  himself,  in  the  appendix  to  the  "  Pro- 


i 


1 

-■  j 


.1  ' 


374     HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

gramm  der  stadt.  Ober-Realschule  zu  Halle,"  Halle,  1894.  * 
Wiese,  l.c.y  published  also  the  "  Favolello,"  a  poetic  epistle 
addressed  to  Rustico  di  Filippo.  Del  Furia  ("Atti  dell'  Accad. 
della  Crusca,"  Firenze,  1829,  ii.  246  sqq.)  proved  that  the 
**  Pataffio,"  a  fatrasia  or  frottola^  which  is  for  the  most  part 
unintelligible,  is  not  by  Brunetto,  but  belongs  to  the  fifteenth 
century.  Ch.  Nisard  ("Journal  des  Savants,"  1880,  p.  ^^sqq.^ 
and  83  sqq^  tried  to  show  that  the  piece  was  by  Burchiello ;  but 
he  was  refuted  by  A.  Borgognoni  in  the  "  Rassegna  setti- 
manale"  of  October  3rd,  1880  (the  article  was  reprinted  in  the 
"Antologia  della  nostra  critica  letteraria  moderna,"  ed.  by 
L.  Morandi,  Cittk  di  Castello,  1885,  p.  "^  sqq.).  The  "  Pataffio  " 
cannot  have  been  written  before  1462,  and  Burchiello  died  in 
1448. 

Page  196.  It  is  said  that,  in  the  meantime,  Thomas  has  dis- 
covered aiso  the  objectof  the  journey  of  Francesca  da  Barberino 
to  France:  cf.  "Romania,"  xiii.  451,  note;  *  see  Thomas, 
"  Lettres  latines  in^dites  de  Fr.  da  Barberino,"  in  "  Romania," 
xvi.  73-91,  and  "Henri  VII.  et  Fr. da  Barberino," /^., p.  571  sq.  * 
Some  particulars  concerning  Francesco's  later  stay  at  Florence 
were  published  from  documents  by  Novati,  "  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett. 
ital.,"  vi.  399  sqq. 

Page  196.  Francesco  da  Barberino,  "I  documenti  d'amore," 
ed.  by  Federico  Ubaldini,  Roma,  1640.  "Del  reggimento  e 
costumi  di  donna,"  ed.  by  Manzi,  Roma,  18 15,  and  far  better 
by  C.  Baudi  di  V'esme,  Bologna,  1875.  For  the  poet,  see 
Antognoni,  "  Le  glosse  ai  Documenti  d'amore,"  in  the  "  Giorn. 
di  fil.  rom.,"  iv.  78  sqq.^  and  especially  A.  Thomas's  excellent 
work,  "  Francesco  da  Barberino  e  la  litt^rature  proven^ale  en 
Italie  au  moyen  age,"  Paris,  1883.  From  Thomas  I  have  taken 
the  chronology  of  the  works  and  many  other  details.  Renier's 
objections  ("Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  iii.  97  sqq.)  appear  to  me 
of  little  account. — Thomas  devotes  special  attention,  too,  to  the 
commentary  of  the  "  Documenti."  However,  what  he  says 
(p.  70)  to  explain  Francesco's  observation  that  the  work  con- 
nected with  the  commentary  occupied  him  sixteen  years,  now 
again  appears  to  me  very  doubtful.  Thomas  {ib.^  p.  68)  places 
the  composition  of  the  commentary  about  the  year  i3i4or  1315, 
certainly  before  1318  ;  but  the  title  the  author  gives  himself  at 
the  beginning  proves  nothing  for  the  composition  of  the  entire 
work;  he  might  have  subsequently  made  additions  from  time  to 
time.  The  passage  where  he  speaks  of  Dante's  "Commedia" 
(fol.  63b,  given  by  Thomas,  p.  192),  appears  to  me  impossible 
in  the  year  131 5,  and  was  probably  not  written  before  1321, 
that  is,  not  before  the  publication  of  the  entire  "  Commedia." 
It  may,  however,  still  be  correct  that  the  work  occupied  sixteen 
years:  the  passage  which  speaks  of  Henry  VII.  as  still  living 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      375 


was  written  in  1313  ;  it  is  true  that  on  fol.  24  and  even  earlier, 
the  sixteen  years  are  mentioned ;  but  this  may  be  a  later  addi- 
tion—we know  what  Petrarch  and  Boccaccio,  for  example,  did 
in  this  direction.— For  the  Provencal  Court  of  Love  in  Sir 
Thomas  Phillipps'  MS.  as  the  probable  model  of  Francesco, 
see  Thomas,  p.  64  sqq.  Such  meetings  for  a  Court  of  Love 
occur  also  in  the  "Roman  de  la  Rose,"  11 198  sqq.^  and  at  the 
end  of  Andreas  Capellanus's  "  Amatoria,"  this  latter  resembling 
the  one  in  Francesco  more  closely. 

Page  199.  Borgognoni  discusses  the  donna  in  the  "Studi 
d'erudizione  e  d'arte"  (Bologna,  1877),  i.  22,9  sqq.  Renier,  U., 
p.  95,  assumes  that  the  "  Intelligenza"  appears  in  a  canzone  of 
Francesco's  too. 

Page  199.  Of  the  "  Intelligenzia  "  Fr.  Trucchi  first  published 
a  fragment  in  the  "  Poesie  inedite,"  i. ;  then  the  whole  was 
edited  by  Ozanam,  "Documents  inedits,"  p.  321  sqq.  Further, 
Carbone,  "  La  Cronaca  fiorentina  di  Dino  Compagni  e  Tlntelli- 
genza,"  Firenze,  1868.  A  reprint  of  Ozanam's  edition  was  pub- 
lished by  the  house  of  Daelli  at  Milan  in  1863.  Finally, 
P.  Gellrich,  "  Die  Intelligenza,  ein  altital.  Gedicht,"  Breslau, 
1883 ;  this  edition,  too,  is  faulty ;  #  (see  the  corrections  made  by 
E.  Kdlbing  in  the  "  Archiv.  f.  d.  Stud.  d.  neueren  Spr.,"  Ixxxvi. 
i).  * 

Page  200.  For  the  early  descriptions  of  palaces,  cf.,  for 
example,  Gregorovius,  "  Gesch.  der  Stadt  Rom.,"  iii.  563 ;  see, 
too,  D'Ancona's  observation  in  Del  Lungo's  "  Dino  Compagni," 
i.  477  [this  is  said  to  be  contained  also  in  the  "  Nuova  Antol. " 
of  February,  1872,  which  number  I  have  not  now  at  my  dis- 
posal]. 

Page  200.  The  history  of  Caesar  in  the  "Intelligenzia"  was 
held  by  Nannucci  to  be  taken  from  the  version  in  the  Riccard. 
MS.  L.  Banchi,  in  the  "  Fatti  di  Cesare,"  p.  xlvi,  opposes  Nan- 
nucci's  view,  merely  because  two  stanzas  of  the  "  Intelligenzia" 
are  derived  from  a  portion  of  the  book  which  is  not  contained 
in  the  Riccard.  MS. ;  therefore,  he  thought,  the  source  must  be 
the  "Fatti,"  and  with  this  explanation  he  was  satisfied.  The 
proper  deduction  to  make  was  that  the  version  of  the  Riccard. 
had  originally  been  complete  (the  beginning  of  the  codex  being 
lost),  and  is  perhaps  still  complete  in  some  MSS.  Besides,  the 
passage  on  which  Banchi  based  his  decision  cannot  be  from  the 
"  Fatti,"  seeing  that  it  gives  more  of  the  French  original  than 
this  work.  For  the  entirely  unsuccessful  examination  of  the 
sources  made  by  Gellrich,  see  Mussafia,  "  Literaturbl.  f.  germ, 
u.  rom.  Phil.,"  1884,  P-  IS5;  Mussafia,  too,  is  now  inclined  to 
assume  that  the  source  of  the  "  Intell. "  is  contained  in  some 
Italian  version  similar  to  the  one  in  the  Riccard  MS. 

Page  202.     Under  another  name,  the  "  Noys  "  of  Alanus  de 


I 


r|J 


I 


376      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Insulis  corresponds  exactly  to  the  Averrhoistic  Intelligence  (he 
makes  a  feminine  disyllabic  word  of  the  vovg). 

Page  202.  For  the  date  of  the  signature  in  the  Cod.  Magliab., 
see  Del  Lungo, "  Dino  Compagni  e  la  sua  Cronica,"  i.  (Firenze, 
1879)1  P-  434-  Ozanam,  Carbone  and  Grion  ("  Propugnatore," 
ii.  2",  274  s^^.\  believed  that  the  attribution  of  the  work  to 
Compagni  was  correct.  Nannucci,  Bartoli  and  Borgognoni 
("  Studi  d'erudizione,"  i.  123  s^^.)  opposed  it.  D'Ancona, 
"  Nuova  AntoL,"  ser.  ii.,  t.  8.,  p.  561  5^^.,  rightly  declared  this 
opposition  to  be  groundless.  Del  Lungo,  /.c,  pp.  432-504,  gives 
the  history  of  the  entire  dispute  concerning  the  *'  Intelligenzia," 
and  discusses  the  writings  in  question.  For  the  rest,  he  tries 
to  prove,  with  that  terrible  prolixity  to  which  we  are  accustomed 
from  him,  that  the  poem  is  by  Dino  Compagni;  but  he  adds 
nothing  in  the  way  of  novelty  or  improvement  to  what  D'Ancona 
had  said  concisely  and  to  the  point ;  for  the  supposed  agree- 
ment between  passages  in  the  chronicle  and  the  short  poems  of 
Dino  (p.  484  s^^.)  works  out  at  nothing.  This  kind  of  thing  is 
intended  to  establish  the  identity  of  the  author,  and  the  same 
Del  Lungo  considers  the  striking  and  literal  agreement  between 
passages  in  Dino  and  Villani  to  be  merely  due  to  chance  ! 

Page  203.  For  Guido's  marriage,  see  Del  Lungo,  /.c,  p.  1099 
s^g.,  who  shows  admirably  how  marriages  consummated  long 
after  the  agreement  were  of  frequent  occurrence,  and  that  the 
expressions  dar  moglie  and  far  parentado  signify  only  the 
agreement,  not  the  marriage  itself  For  the  probable  year  of 
Guidons  birth,  see  ib.^  p.  1 1 1 1  sqq. 

Page  204.  Niccola  Muscia's  sonnet  is  contained  in  Arnone's 
"Le  Rime  di  Guido  Cavalcanti,"  Firenze,  1886,  p.  86  (cf  Del 
Lungo,  "  Dino  Compagni,"  i.  1098  sq.,  and  Bartoli,  "  Stor.  lett.," 
iv.  165  sqq). 

Page  204.  Arnone,  /.r.,  p.  Ixxvii,  hesitates,  without  sufficient 
reason,  as  to  whether  the  ballad  "  Perch'  io  non  spero  "  was  com- 
posed at  Sarzana  (cf  Bartoli,  "Stor.  lett,"  iv.  159  note,  and 
Ercole,  "Guido  Cavalcanti,"  Livorno,  1885,  p.  406  i-^.— The 
exact  date  of  Guido's  death,  which  is  not  without  importance  for 
the  chronology  of  Dante's  life,  too,  was  discovered  by  Del 
Lungo,  "Dino  Compagni,"  ii.  98,  note  26  ;  it  is  August  27,  or 
28,  1300— Guido's  poems  were  edited  by  Ant.  Cicciaporci, 
"  Rime  di  Guido  Cavalcanti  edite  ed  inedite,"  Firenze,  1813, 
from  which  edition  they  were  reprinted  in  the  "  Poeti  del'primo 
secolo,"  ii.  276  sqq.  A  new  edition,  which  calls  itself  critical, 
without  being  anything  of  the  kind,  with  a  lengthy  discussion 
on  the  MSS.,  the  authenticity  of  the  poems,  etc.,  is  that  of 
Nicola  Arnone,  quoted  above.  For  its  defects,  see  Mussafia, 
"  Literaturbl.  f.  germ.  u.  rom.  Phil.,"  1881,  p.  295  sq.  ;  D'Ancona* 
**  Nuova  Antol,"  ser.  ii.,  t.  28,  p.  708  sqq.  ;    Morpurgo,  "  Giorn! 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      377 

fn'  t^^  "' p'.'-'  ^^'''  -  P-„^  ^ '  W-  For  Guido,  see  Arnone's  papers 
in  the  Riv.  Europea,"  nuova  serie,  vol.  vi.,  487  sqq.,  vni.  280 
W.,,they  contain  little  that  is  new,  either  in  (he  way  of  facts  ox 
pU  x/^n  r^ • 'i  ^^P-^''^'  "  ^^  ^'"^^  ^'  G"ido  Cavalcanti," 
e  le  sue  rime  (biography,  poems  and  commentary),  Livorno, 
f^^rcT^  '"Pk"""'  '^  ^"  the  preceding  publications  on  Guido 
tssj^         '  character,  see  Del  Lungo,  "Nuova  AntoL,"  Nov.  r, 

Jr^^^^^V^\  ■  ^P'' u  i?''  '"terpretation  of  the  passage  in  Dante 
rHHrP'  N  'V'"  i^^  "Propugnatore,"  1870,  then  in  his  "  Saggi 
w  ote\f  r^^^  i87?,p.  3i2.~It  is  true  that  Fil.  Villani,  tlo, 
wrote  of  Guido  :    si  optmoni  patris  Epicurum  secuti  parufn 

ZhZ\T"'T^'  ''^' '  ^"'  ^'''  ^^^^^  ^^  ^  P««^  guarantee,  and 
perhaps  he  was  borrowing  from  Boccaccio.    D'Ovidio's  first  ex- 

Arnnnl'"'!/^'  if'^'if ^^^^  by  Comparetti  ("  Virgilio  nel  M.  E."). 
Arnone,  too,  who  first  raised  the  objection  that  has  been  noted, 

beirefT"SH'T-:5'^^  of  Guido's  Epicureanism  and  dis- 
he  s/vl  fh^  ^""f^^  S^"^-'  P-  ^^^^•)'  ^"  the  genuine  poems, 
allud/d'/n  "Tf"?^  ""^  ^u"^  "'^^•'  ^"^"^^'  '^^  ^"ture  life  is  neve^ 
alluded  to.  But  was  there  much  opportunity  for  this  in  the 
poetic  manner  adopted  by  Guido?    Besides,  the  former  state- 

rosa  nnUn^ -^''k'  '!^  •  J  ^?^".^  ^^^^^^^'  '^^  ballad  "  Fresca 
rosa  novella    is  by  Guido  :  for  here  Dw  is  named  in  vv.  21  and 

vitn  "1?  -^^^T'  ^^'^^ocjurs  in  the  sonnet  "  Chi  h  quella  che 
,n  ?i.rV  V^  l^"^'  '^r  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^^^"^  adopted  by  A?none,  but 
11^^  J  n^^  -^^l:  ^f;.^''^'  ''^'^^  ''  the  good  one  ;  and  !a 
.tZ  t  ''  '^'^/  "  Mottetto,"  Arnone,  p^  67.  Bartoli,  too, 
teV  S^J^  w/«^'"^!:^^y.^^°"^'  concerning  Guido's'  dis-' 
thi  mL  •  ^t"''V^-  '^4^'  ^"^"^  ^^^  s«""^t  on  the  image  of 
the  Madonna  he  deduces  too  much  (p.   169).     On  the  Sther 

th?f'  ^'il-^'""  'H''  ^^  ^^^  L""^«  P^^^^^d  «"t,  /...,  i.  1098%.' 
the  expedition  to  Santiago  proves  nothing  for  Guido's  religious- 

Z^  U  -^  '""^n'  -^  '^""^^  .^^y^'  ^^^^"  "°thing  but  a  ceremony, 
fh.\C^  'fn'^'-'^J',^''''^  ^t  up  on  the  way.  Ercole  also  opposes 
the  theory  of  Guido's  atheism  (/.c,  p.  75  sqq.).  ^ 

rX^F  ^°^'  ,*  ^- Pasqualigo,  "La  canzone  di  G.  Cavalcanti,  etc., 
sSori"^'!  l^'L  -^  ^  commentata,"  Lonigo,  1891  ;  Giulio 
Salvador]  La  poesia  giovanile  e  la  canzone  d'amore  di  Guido 
Cavalcanti,"  Roma,  1895.  *  v^muo 

c!  ^^^  ^Vl  'T^,^  ^"t^/^ticity  of  Guido  Orlandi's  sonnet,  "Onde 
s^  muove,"  has  been  doubted  (see  Crescimbeni,  iii.  76,  note  10). 
en^nfT^'  '}  '^  contained  in  the  Cod.  Chigi,  belonging  to  the 
end  of  the  fourteenth  century  ;  it  would  therefore  be  a  forgery  of 

^Zcf'^^  ^^'^'  >*  ?••  ^^"^'"o"'  "^"'^«  ^^^^"di  ^  J^  scuKei 
dolce  stil  nuovo,'"  Pistoia,  1895.* 

Page  208.   For  Lapo  or  Lupo  degli  Uberti  see  Grion,  "  Jahrb.," 


'4 


k 


'HI 


378      HISTORY   OF   EARLY  ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

X.  203  sqq.^  full  of  his  usual   fantastic  notions  ;    and,   better, 
Renier,  "  Liriche  di  Fazio  degli  Uberti,"  pp.  xcv-xcviii,  Firenze, 

1883. 

Page  208.  Bartoli,  "  Stor.  lett.,"  iv.  5,  notes  in  Lapo  Gianni  a 
special  mania  dialettica^  drawing  attention,  ifiter  alia^  to  the 
merely  superficial  point  that  he  takes  the  word  provo^  which 
occurs  repeatedly  in  a  poem,  to  mean  "  I  prove  it,"  whereas  its 
real  sense  is  "  I  experience  it  myself."— E.  Lamma's  article, 
"  Lapo  Gianni,"  in  the  "  Propugnatore,"  xviii.  I*",  p.  3  -^^f-j  is  of 
no  importance.  *  A.  Gabrielli,  "  Lapo  Gianni  e  la  lirica  pre- 
dantesca/'  Roma,  1887  (from  the  "  Rassegna  italiana").  "  Rime 
di  Lapo  Gianni,  rivedute  sui  codici  e  suUe  stampe,"  edited,  with 
introduction  and  notes,  by  E.  Lamma,  Imola,  1895.  * 

Page  212.  "  Le  Rime  di  Folgore  da  San  Gemignano  e  di  Gene 
dalla  Chitarra  d'Arezzo,"  ed.  by  G.  Navone,  Bologna,  1880. 
See  D'Ancona  on  the  poems,  "Nuova  Antol.,"  xxv.  55,  and 
"  Studj  di  critica,"  p.  208  sqq.  For  contrary  arguments  see 
Navone,  in  his  paper  on  Folgore,  in  the  "  Giorn.  di  fil  rom.,"  i. 
201  sqq.^  and  in  the  introduction  to  his  edition.  *  Giuseppe 
Errico,  "  Folgore  da  S.  Gemignano  e  la  brigata  spendereccia," 
Napoli,  1896.  -;.=• 

Page  214.  Gene  dalla  Chitarra  also  calls  the  brigata  (in 
Sonnet  1.)  avara,  merely  in  opposition  to  Folgore.  The  verse 
"  E  quel  che  in  millantar  si  largo  dona  "  (V.),  goes  to  prove  that 
Folgore's  words  did  not  represent  the  truth.  Bartoli,  "Stor. 
lett.,"  ii.  253-259,  sides  with  D'Ancona  and  others,  as  opposed  to 
Navone,  in  relying  principally  on  Benvenuto's  words.  The  only 
new  point  he  introduces  is  the  mention  of  the  Salimbeni  in 
Gene's  sonnet  on  September  (see  Bartoli,  p.  266) ;  but  the 
passage  is  not  decisive,  for  we  do  not  know  whether  the  head  of 
the  brigata  is  alluded  to  here.  D'Ancona,  "  Studj  di  critica," 
p.  209,  note  2,  agrees  with  Bartoli,  without  adding  new  argu- 
ments. Navone  (Introd.,  p.  xcvi)  rightly  assumes  that,  \yhen 
once  the  real  circumstances  were  forgotten,  popular  tradition 
soon  connected  the  poems  with  the  brigata  spendereccia^  which 
accounts  for  the  superscriptions  to  that  effect  in  two  MSS.  Ben- 
venuto  da  Imola  might  also  have  been  deceived  by  this,  and  it 
is  not  necessary-  to  assume,  as  is  done  by  Navone  (p.  Ixxxvi), 
that  the  poems  mentioned  by  him  were  ditferent  ones. 

Page  214.  In  five  sonnets,  which  are  probably  part  of  a  larger 
corona  (Navone,  p.  45  sqq.\  Folgore  describes  the  ceremony  of 
conferring  a  knighthood,  employing  allegorical  figures. 

Page  214.  To  the  battle  of  Montecatini  refers  also  the  con- 
temporary anonymousballad:  "DehavrestuvedutomesserPiero," 
a  dialogue  between  Maria,  the  mother  of  the  King  of  Naples,  and 
a  Guelph  who  had  returned  from  the  battle  ;  it  has  been  edited 
by  Teza,  in  Carducci's  "  Rime  di  Cino  da  Pistoia,"  Firenze,  1862, 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      379 

p.  603  sqq.,  and  in  the  "  Cantil.  e  Ball.,"  p.  32  sqq.—Oi  other 
political  poems  I  shall  still  note  Guido  Orlandi's  vigorous  sonnet 
in  defiance  of  the  Florentine  Whites,  when  the  amnesty  of  13 16 
was  offered  them  :  "  Color  di  cener  fatti  son  li  bianchi"  (Trucchi, 
1.  244),  and  the  rhymes  of  the  notary  Pietro  de'  Faitinelli  of  Lucca, 
called  Mugnone.     The  latter  must  have  left  his  city  with  the 
Guelph  party,  when  Uguccione  della  Faggiuola  became  lord  of 
It  in  1314,  and  remained  in  exile  till  1331  ;  he  died  in  1349.     He 
wrote  several  sonnets  referring  to  the  same  events  as  the  three 
of  Folgore,  and  inspired  by  the  same  sentiments— grief  at  the 
successes   of   Uguccione,   reproaches   and   censure   for   King 
Robert,  the  Florentines,  the  negligent  and  cowardly  Guelphs. 
But  for  poetical  vigour  and  the  glow  of  passion  Folgore's  three 
sonnets  are  far  superior  to  those  of  Faitinelli,  which  were  edited, 
with  a  good  introduction  on  the  poet,  by  Leone  del  Prete  : 
"  Rime  di  ser  Pietro  de'  Faytinelli  detto  Mugnone,"  Bologna, 
1874.     Egisto   Gerunzi,   "Pietro   de'  Faytinelli,"  etc.,   in   the 
"Propugn.,"  xvii.  2",  p.  325  sqq.,  endeavoured  to  attribute  Fol- 
gore's three  sonnets  to  P^aitinelli,  following  in  this  an  opinion  of 
Pietro  Bilancioni's  ;  but  the  proof  fails  entirely  and  moves  in  a 
circulus  vitiosus.     The  MS.  gives  the  name  of  Folgore,  and  the 
poems  do  not  resemble  those  of  Faitinelli  in  any  way  save  in  the 
subject-matter;  buttheyproducequite  a  different  effect,  by  reason 
of  the  energetic  brevity  of  the  expression  and  the  vivacity  of  the 
images.     It  is  sufificient  to  compare  the  admirable  "Eo  non  ti 
lodo  .  .  ."  with  Faitinelli's  "Ercol,  Cibele  .  .  .,"  so  vulgar  and  so 
crammed  with  mythological  learning,  in  order  to  see  the  entire 
difference  between  them.     Cf.,  too,  the  good  observations  of 
L.  del  Prete  in  the  "Propugn.,"  xviii.  i",  p.  136.  and  those  of 
Morpurgo  in  the  "  Riv.  crit.,"  ii.,  p.  23.     *  V.  Rossi,  "  Della 
libertanella  nuova  lirica  toscana  del  1300,"  Bologna,  1886.  * 

Page  214  sqq.  For  Cecco  Angiolieri  see  D'Ancona's  brilliant 
paper,  "  Cecco  Angiolieri  da  Siena,  poeta  umorista  del  sec.  xiii.," 
m  the  "  Nuova  Antol.,"  xxv.  5  sqq.,3ind  in  the  "  Studi  di  critica," 
p.  105  sqq.  *  P.  Bilancioni,  in  the  "Propugn.,"  N.  S.,  ii.  1046 
sqq.  *  Many  of  the  poems  are  contained  specially  in  the  Cod. 
Chigi,  according  to  which  they  were  edited  by  Molteni  and 
Monaci,  "  II  Canzoniere  Chigiano,"  p.  212  sqq. 

Page  217.  Rusticco's  poems  are  contained  in  Trucchi's 
"Poesie  ined.,"  i.  180  and  225  sqq.  The  sonnet,  "  lo  aggio 
inteso,"  is  in  the  "Poeti  del  primo  secolo,"  ii.  419.  Several  of 
the  poems  are  still  unprinted,  so  the  coarsest  (Cod.  Vat.,  3793, 
No.  921) :  ''  Dovunque  vai,  con  teco  porti  il  cesso,  O  bugieressa 
vechia  puzolente."— *  "  Le  Rime  di  Rustico  di  Filippo,"  edited 
by  Vincenzo  Federici,  Bergamo,  1899.  See,  too,  Casini's  mono- 
graph in  the  "  Nuova  Antologia,"  serie  3,  xxv.  486-508.  * 
Page  220.     Dante :  Karl  Witte,  " Danteforschungen,"  Band  I., 


\  i 


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i,H 


I 


HP 


380     HISTORY  OF  EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Halle,  1869;  II.,  Heilbronn,  1879.  *  "Essays  on  Dante,"  se- 
lected, translated,  and  edited,  with  Introduction,  Notes,  and 
Appendices,  by  C.  M.  Lawrence  and  P.  H.  Wicksteed,  London, 
1898.  *  Gius.  Todeschini,  "  Scritti  su  Dante,"  collected  by  Bart. 
Bressan,  Vicenza,  1872  (posthumous ;  the  papers  are  much  older). 
Pietro  Fraticelli,  "  Storia  della  vita  di  Dante  Alighieri,"  Firenze, 
186 1.  Foscoio,  "  Discorso  sul  testo  della  Commedia  di  Dante  " 
(in  the  "Opere  di  Foscoio,"  iii.,  Firenze,  1850,  p.  85  sqq. — the 
work  was  written  in  1825).  Vitt.  Imbriani,  "Sulla  rubrica  dan- 
tesca  nel  Villani"  (in  the  "  Propugnatore,"  xii.  1°,  p.  325,  2*^, 
p.  54;  xiii.  i'',  p.  131  and  168,  2«,  p.  187).  "Dante  e  il  suo 
secolo,"  Firenze,  1865  (a  work  compiled  to  commemorate  the 
centenary;  large  in  bulk,  but  poor  in  contents).  "Jahrbuch 
der  deutschen  Dantegesellschaft,"  Band  i.,  Leipzig,  1867;  ii. 
1869;  iii.  1871  ;  iv.  1877.  G.  A.  Scartazzini,  "Dante  in  Ger- 
mania,"  Band  i.,  Milano,  1881  ;  Band  ii.,  1883.  The  same, 
"Dante,"  in  the  "Manual!  Hoepli"  (Nos.  42  and  43),  2  little 
vols.,  Milano,  1883  (quite  useful,  but  vain,  insipid  and  offensive, 
by  reason  of  the  author's  gross  ingratitude  towards  Witte) ; 
*  an  English  trans.,  by  T.  Davidson,  under  the  title  "A  Hand- 
book to  Dante"  appeared  in  Boston,  1887  ;  and  a  second  Italian 
edition — "  Dantologia," — was  published  in  1894.  *  Scartazzini's 
book  on  Dante,  which  appeared  in  1869,  is  now  absolutely  use- 
less, though  it  was  reprinted  in  1879.  *  The  same,  "  Prole- 
gomini  della  Divina  Commedia,"  Leipzig,  1890.  The  same, 
"  Dante-Handbuch,"  Leipzig,  1892  ;  translated  into  English  by 
A.  J.  Butler:  "A  Companion  to  Dante,"  London,  1893.  The 
same,  "Dante"  (" Geisteshelden,"  Band  21),  Berlin,  1896.  * 
Fr.  X.  Wegele,  "  Dante  Alighieri's  Leben  und  Werke,"  ed.  3, 
Jena,  1879  (formerly  excessively  praised,  now  perhaps  too  much 
criticised  ;  for,  in  spite  of  its  errors,  it  contains  much  that  is  use- 
ful). Bartoli,  "  Storia  d.  lett.  ital.,"  v.,  Firenze,  1884  ;  *  C.  Ricci, 
"  L'ultimo  rifugio  di  Dante  Alighieri,"  Milano,  189 1.  M.Scherillo, 
"  Alcunicapitoli  della  biografia  di  Dante,"  Torino,  1896.  Franz 
Xaver  Kraus,  "  Dante,  sein  Leben  und  sein  Werk,  sein  Verhiilt- 
niss  zur  Kunst  und  zur  Politik,"  Berlin,  1897.  A.  Bassermann, 
"Dante's  Spuren  in  Italien,"  Heidelberg,  1897  (a  small  edition, 
Miinchen-Leipzig,  1898).  Edmund  G.  Gardner,  "Dante,"' 
London,  1900.  #  Colomb  de  Batines,  "  Bibliografia  dantesca," 
Prato,  1 845- 1 848,  3  parts.  Giuseppe  Jacopo  Ferrazzi, "  Manuale 
Dantesco,"  5  vols.,  the  last  one  published  in  Bassano,  1877  (a 
chaotic  work).  ♦  Cornell  University  Library.  Catalogue  of 
the  Dante  Collections  presented  by  Willard  Fiske.  Compiled 
by  Theodore  Wesley  Koch,  Ithaca,  New  York,  1898,  1899.  * 

^  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  useful  list  of  English  and  American  Dante 
publications  at  the  close  of  this  little  book. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      38 1 

Page  22a     For  Dante's  family  see,  besides  Fraticelli,  L.  Pas- 

"^^^'^Lf'    /^^"ff  ^'^  '^°  '^''''.^"  P-  53  W.     The  documents  are 
'^CA        a'J/^''"",^^'  ^  Gargani)  "Della  casa  di  Dante,"  Firenze, 
•  I  l,,-^^"*-  ""'  ^^^"^ont,  "Dante's  Familie  "  (in  the  "Dante- 
lahrb.    n.  331  sqq.)  gives  nothing  new  of  importance.— For  the 
family  name  see  Witte,  "Dantef.,"  ii.  22.     The  documents  till 
the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  have  almost  invariably  Ala- 
ghertus,  ox  Allagherius,  as  was  noted  by  Selmi,  "  II  Convito,  sua 
cronologia,"  etc.,  Torino,  1865,  p.  vii ;    and  Scarabelli  wished 
to  see  this  adopted  as  the  genuine  form  ("  Comedia  di  Dante 
degli  Allaghieri  col  commento  di  Jacopo  dalla  Lana,"  Milano 
1/7'  ^■'^^'^'h    }!'  l^^  sonnets  of  Forese  Donati,  too,  we  find 
Allaghieri  and  Alaghier,  and  in  Dante's  Latin  letters  Alla^he- 
rius     It  IS  true,  then,  that  this  was  the  original  form,  from  which 
Alighieri   Nvas   derived;   but  this  transformation   took    place 
already  during  Dante's  lifetime.     We  find  de  Allegheriis  in  the 
document  of  S.  Gemignano  (1299),  Allegheriim  the  deed  of  S 
Godenzo  (1302),  alligerii  in  the  Paduan  record  of  1306,  Ali^erius 
in  the  peace  compact  of  Sarzana  (1306)  and  Aligheriim  the  will 
c        u^^.!  mother-in-law  (1315,  see  "Casa  di  Dante,"  p.  41) 
Scarabelli's  observations  in  the  "  Esemplare  della  Divina  Com- 
media donato  da  Papa  Lambertini,"  iii.  p.  vii  (Bologna,  187^) 
are  therefore,  wrong.     Even  allowing  that  Dante  had  always 
called  himself  Alaghieri,  we  may  yet  employ  that  form  of  his 
name  which  the  family  adopted  in  his  time  and  retained  subse- 
quently.    In  the  case  of  the  titles  of  works,  we  are  bound  to  the 
author's  decision,  since  they  are  his  creations  ;  but  to  render 
archaic  the  pronunciation  of  the  names  of  persons,  contrary  to 
the  usage  of  so  many  centuries,  is  mere  pedantry,  and  not  worth 
all  the  energy  that  Vitt.  Imbriani  lavished  on  it. 

Page  221.  That  Dante  was  born  in  May  or  June,  1265  was 
proved  again,  briefly  and  decisively  (in  opposition  to  various 
doubts  that  had  then  recently  been  raised),  by  Witte,  "  Neue  u 
neu  festgestellte  Daten  zu  Dante's  Lebensgeschichte "  (in  the 
Augsburger  Allgem.  Zeitung,"  1880,  No.  16,  where  the  biblio- 
graphy of  the  subject  is  also  given).  Scartazzini,  "  Abhandlun^en 
uber  Dante  Alighieri,"  Frankfurt  a.  M.,  1880,  p.  54,  gives  merely 
a  dilution  of  Witte's  arguments. 

Page  221.  That  Brunetto  Latini  was  Dante's  master,  in  the 
ordinary  sense,  was  doubted  already  by  Fauriel,  **Hist.  litt  de  la 
France,"  xx.  (1842),  p.  284  ;  then  by  Sundby,  "  Brunetto  Latinos 
Levnet  og  Skrifter"  (1869),  p.  17  sqq. ;  Todeschini,  "  Scritti  su 
Dante,'  1.,  288  sqq.  ;  Vitt.  Imbriani,  in  the  "  Giorn.  Napoletano 
01  fil.  e  lettere,"  vii.  i  and  169. 

Page  221.    Bartoli,  "Stor.  lett.,"v.  81  .y$^$..,  now  doubts  Dante's 

participation  in  the  wars  ;  he  goes  too  far  in  his  scepticism  •  cf 

Nuova  Antol.,"  Dec.   15,  1883,  p.  820,  and  now  Del  Lungo's 


f 


w 


nam  i 


382      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

article,  ib.^  April  i,  1885,  P-  4'^  ^^7-  Leonardo  Aretino  quotes 
Dante's  letter  on  the  battle  of  Campaldino  in  his  "  Vita  di  Dante," 
and  in  the  "  Historian  florentina;,''  1.  iv.  (towards  the  beginning), 
and  it  is  also  quoted  twice  by  Flavio  Biondo,  "  Historiarum  ab 
inclinatione  romanorum  dec,"  ii.  1.  8  (towards  the  end),  p.  331, 
and  in  such  a  way  that  he  would  appear  to  have  seen  it  with  his 
own  eyes.  The  capture  of  Caprona  is  placed  in  the  year  1 290 
by  Del  Lungo  ('*  Dino  Compagni,"  i.  66,  and  "  Nuova  Antol." 
Lc.y  p.  423),  because  the  date  given  by  Villani,  1289,  is  contra- 
dicted by  the  documents. 

Page  223.  "  La  Vita  Nuova  e  il  Canzoniere  di  Dante  Allighieri," 
ed.  by  Giambatt.  Giuliani,  Firenze,  1868.  "  La  Vita  Nuova  di 
Dante  Allighieriricorrettacoirajuto  di  testi  a  penna  ed  illustrata," 
by  Witte,  Leipzig,  1876.  "  La  Vita  Nuova  di  Dante  Alighieri 
illustrata  da  note  e  preceduta  da  un  discorso  su  Beatrice,"  by  A. 
D'Ancona,  2nd  ed.  Pisa,  1884  (first  appeared  as  Mition  de  luxe^ 
but  the  2nd  ed.  is  considerably  enlarged).  *  Friedrich  Beck, 
"  Dante's  *  Vita  Nuova,'  Kritischer  Text  unter  Beniitzung  von  35 
bekannten  Hss.,"  Miinchen,  1896.  L.  Passerini,  "La  Vita  Nuova, 
secondo  la  lezione  del  cod.  Strozziano  vi.,  143,"  Torino-  Roma, 
1897.  Dr.  E.  Moore,  "  Tutte  le  opere  di  Dante  Alighieri,  nuova- 
mente  rivedute  nel  testo,''  Oxford,  ist  ed.  1894  ;  2nd  ed.  1897.  * 
For  the  interpretation  of  the  title  see  Witte,  p.  vii.  sq.^  and 
D'Ancona,  p.  2  sqq. — Dante's  lyrical  poetry  :  "  Opere  minori  di 
Dante  Alighieri,"  ed.  by  Fraticelli,  vol.  i. :  "II  Canzoniere," 
Firenze,  1861  ;  partly,  too,  in  Giuliani's  edition  of  the  "Vita 
Nuova."  Witte,  "  Rime  in  testi  antichi  attribuite  a  Dante,"  in 
"  Danteforsch,"  ii.  525-573  ;  for  the  greater  part  certainly  not 
by  Dante,  this  being  the  view  of  the  editor  himself.  "  Dante 
Alighieri's  Lyrische  Gedichte,"  translated  and  explained  by  L. 
Kannegiesser  and  K.  Witte,  ed.  2,  Leipzig,  1842,  2  vols. — On 
Dante's  lyrical  poetry  see  especially  G.  Carducci,  "  Delle  Rime 
di  Dante  Alighieri,"  in  "  Dante  e  il  suo  secolo,"  1865,  then  in  the 
"  Studi  letterari,"  Livorno,  1874,  p.  141  sqq.  (the  2nd  edit,  of 
1880  is  a  literal  reprint).  E.  Lamma,  "Studi  sul  Canzoniere 
di  Dante,"  in  the  "Propugn.,"  xviii.  2°,  189,  352  ;  xix.  1°  133— 
bibliography  of  the  editions  and  MSS.,  discussion  as  to  the 
authenticity  of  the  poems ;  the  author  is  badly  prepared  and 
superficial. 

Page  228.  "  lo  mi  son  pargoletta  bella  e  nuova."  Many  have 
thought  that  Beatrice  is  not  alluded  to  here,  and  that  the  par- 
goletta is  identical  with  the  one  mentioned  in  "  Purg.,"  xxxi.  59  ; 
but  the  latter  does  not  refer  to  any  particular  person,  and  points 
to  a  sensual  passion,  which  Dante  would  not  have  treated  in  the 
manner  adopted  in  the  ballad.  After  all  pargoletta  is  a  common, 
not  a  proper,  noun,  and  when  a  poet  speaks  of  a  young  girl  must 
it  always  be  the  same  person  ? 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      383 

Page  231.    The  canzone  "  Morte  poich'  io  non  trovo  a  cui  mi 
dogha,    IS  probably  not  by  Dante,  but  perhaps  by  the  fourteenth 
century  poet  JacopoCechi  (cf.  Giorn.  Stor.  d.  lett.  ital."  i  346 
and  R.  Renier,  "Liriche  di  Fazio  degli  Uberti,"  Firenze,  188^/ 
p.  cccxxv).  '         ^^ 

"  Viff  N^,nv.  ^^^^/'""^  ^'a^  "f  June  9th,  1290,  according  to  the 
"  PurV^  xvv  '  t;/""  '■  ^""^  /"  h^^^4th  or  25th  year,  according  to 
Purg  xxx.,  124  :  /«  su  la  soglia  Di  mia  seconda  etade—iox 
from  the  particulars  given  by  Dante  concerning  the  various  ages 
(  Conv.  IV.  24)  we  cannot  tell  whether  he  reckons  the  boundary 
years  to  the  one  age  or  to  the  other.  ^ 

Page  231.   That  the  "Vita  Nuova  "must  have  been  completed 
in  the  year  1292  was  proved  by  Fornaciari,  in  his  "Studi  su 

^^itXff'  '"^  PKM^'P'".  ^^^^".°»   ^^^3'  P-   ^55   sqq.     Cf.,  too! 

Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phi . ''  vu  612-614,  and  Francesco  d'Ovidio,  in 
the  "  Nuova  Antol.,"  March  15, 1884,  p.  247  .^^.~ Antonio  Lubin^ 

Dante  spiegato  con  Dante  e  Polemiche  dantesche,"  Trieste 
1884,  m  a  very  heated  controversial  article  directed  against 
p  Ovidio  (p.  24  sqq.\  and  m  another  one  against  Fornaciari 
(p.  81  J^$r.),  endeavours  to  prove  afresh  his  chronology,  which 
places  the  "Vita  Nuova"  in  the  year  1300.    His  wholf  cCn  of 
arguments  is  based  on  the  conviction,  that  the  Donna  gentile  of 
the     Vita  Nuova  "  was  really,  from  the  very  outset,  nothing  but 
an  allegory  of  Philosophy.    For  anyone  who  does  not  share  this 
conviction,  which  involves  us  in  hopeless  contradictions,  the 
entire  chain  of  arguments  is   valueless.     On  the  other  hand 
P.  Rajna,      Per  la  data  della  *  Vita  Nuova,'"  in  the  "Giorn' 

ricnUK  >^a^->"  VI,  113/$^$^,  admirably  confirms  Fornaciari's 

result  by  means  of  critical  and  historical  reasons 

^^  Page  232      Folco  Portinari's  will  (printed  in  Gius.  Richa's 

Notizie  istoriche  delle  chiese  fiorentine,"  Firenze,  I7«;g  viii 
229  sqq)  IS  dated  January  15th,  12S7,  that  is  to  say  (as  this  is 
certainly  Florentine  style),  1288  according  to  our  reckoning, 
which  is  the  year  fixed  by  Witte,  "  Lyr.  Ged.,"  ii.  19.  For 
further  biographical  particulars  concerning  Folco  Portinari,  see 
D  Ancona,  V  N.,"  p.  162.— A  notice  concerning  the  reality  of 
Beatrice,  and  her  belonging  to  the  Portinari  family— a  notice 
apparently  eariier  than  Boccaccio's— was  discovered  by  L  Rocca 
m  a  second  (fuller)  version  which  Pietro  Alighieri  made  of  his 
Dante  commentary,  written  circa  1355  ;  cf.  L.  Rocca,  in  the 

Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  vii.  366  sqq. 

Page  233.  Thomas  Aquinas  expressly  denied  the  conception 
ot  an  active  intelligence,  as  separate  substance ;  for  hini  the 
intellectiis  agens  is  merely  a  power  of  the  mind  (see  "Summa 
u-^l:'  .,P*  ^'\  ^"-  79»  art.  5),  and  the  superior  Intellectiis  a^ens. 
which  illuminates  the  human  intelligence,  is  not  a  special  sub- 
stance, but  God  himself :  "  Sed  intellectus  separatus  secundum 


\i 


t 


384      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

nostrae  fidei  documenta  est  ipse  Deus"  (/^.,  art.  4).  So  even  for 
this  supposed  intelligence  there  is  no  place  in  Dante's  system, 
and  Perez  could  not  quote  a  single  passage  alluding  to  it ;  how- 
ever, when  he  does  quote,  and  the  reference  is  to  God,  he 
purposely  does  not  enlighten  the  reader  as  to  the  ambiguous 
expression  Intelligenza.  Or  again,  on  p.  233  is  quoted  a 
passage  from  the  letter  to  Can  Grande,  where  i3ante  speaks  of 
a  substantia  intellectitalis  separata  ;  Perez,  of  course,  renders 
this  la  intelligenza  attiva  ;  but  Dante  is  speaking  of  the  angels. 
Perez'  proof,  therefore,  rests  on  a  conjuring  trick.  His  entire 
theory  concerning  the  allegorical  meaning  of  the  "Vita  Nuova" 
is  based  on  the  wrong  interpretation  of  a  passage  in  this  little 
book — an  interpretation  which  was  repeated  by  Renier.  Dante 
says  (cap.  25),  in  justification  of  the  personification  of  love 
occurring  in  one  of  the  poems,  that  poets  in  the  vulgar  tongue 
employed  figurative  speech,  like  the  classical  poets  ;  but  that 
"it  were  a  shameful  thing  if  one  should  rhyme  under  the 
semblance  of  metaphor  or  rhetorical  similitude,  and  afterwards, 
being  questioned  thereof,  should  be  unable  to  rid  his  words  of 
such  semblance,  unto  their  right  understanding."  Perez  (p.  5 1 
sqq.)  changes  this  to  :  "  Shame  to  him,  who  does  not  speak 
figuratively,  i.e.^  always  in  allegories."  Are  we  really  to  assume 
that  he  did  not  notice  how  he  was  making  Dante  say  something 
quite  different  .-* 

Page  233.  For  Vittorio  Imbriani  on  Beatrice,  cf.  "  Quando 
nacque  Dante?"  Napoli,  1879,  P-  88  sq.^  the  "  Propugn.,"  xv.  i", 
p.  67,  and  many  other  passages ;  Bartoli,  "  Stor.  lett.,"  iv. 
(Firenze,  1881),  p.  171  sqq.  A.  Lubin,  "La  Commedia  di 
Dante  Alighieri,"  Padova,  1881,  p.  24  sq.^  admits  Beatrice's 
reality;  but  still  he  thinks  that  her  allegorical  significance 
begins  as  early  as  §  17  of  the  "V.  N."  The  allegorical, 
together  with  the  historical  significance,  was  assumed, 
among  others,  by  Witte,  Fornaciari,  and,  on  one  occasion,  by 
Renier. 

Page  234.  The  argument  for  Beatrice's  reality,  based  on  the 
circumstance  that  no  explanation  of  the  allegory  is  given  in  the 
*'Convivio,"  has  now  been  adopted  by  D'Ovidio,  too  ("Nuova 
Antol.,"  /.r.,  p.  246,  note  2).  For  the  fact  that  a  passage  at  the 
beginning  of  the  "  Convivio,"  which  was  supposed  to  vouch  for 
the  allegorical  character  of  the  "V.  N.,"  was  wrongly  under- 
stood, see  "Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  vii.  617. 

Page  235.  The  latest  flower  in  the  art  of  allegorical  inter- 
pretation may  be  admired  in  R.  Renier's  article  in  the  "  Giorn. 
stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  ii.  379-395.  Here  every  single  point  is  ex- 
plained ;  we  have  a  whole  crowd  of  ^^^z/r/W  chasing  one  another 
in  Dante's  brain.  When  Beatrice  dies  we  are  told  that  she  has 
now  become  "  the  grand  feminine  ideal  of  humanity,"  and  so 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND   CRITICAL   NOTES      385 

on      Renier  even  doubts  whether  the  nearest  blood  relative  was 
a  brother ;  for  Beatrice  Portinari  had  five  brothers,  and  a  hus- 
nf ^h/" V  M  i'  • ;    ^^^'  '^^  oft-quoted  passage  at  the  begLnbg 
t  t  .      ^  •  -  "^"  ^^P^^"«  <^he  si  chiamare"-proves  Bealrll 
o  be  a  proper  name,  and  not  an  adjective,  is  shown  in  the 
"  Literaturbl.  f.  germ.  u.  rom.  Phil,"  1884,  p.  ici.-An  excellent 
argument  agamst  the  allegorical  interpretation  was  brou^^^^^^ 
ward  by  Renier  himself  m  "La  Vita  Nuova  e  la  FiaSta  " 
Torino,  1879,  P-  151  sq.     We  have  at  least  one  direct^^ce  of 
testimony  for  Beatrice's  actual  existence  from  some  one  besfdes 
Dante,  namely,  the  canzone  by  Cino  on  her  death.     Now  Renier 
endeavours  to  destroy  this  argument  ("  Giorn.  stor.  d  ?eTt  ita    " 
IV.  426  ^ote)  by  supposing  that  the  canzone  of  Cino  da  P  s?oi^ 
IS  not  addressed  to  Dante,  and  does  not  refer  to  the  death  of 

rrfpTrfectlt  dear'"?);  t'  ^'"'  '^^  ^'^  ^""^^^"^  ^  the  canzone 
are  perfectly  clear.     In  the  first  stanza  we  read  :   "Beata  cosa 

come  chiamava  il  nome; "  and,  in  the  second,  the  words  "Ch^ 
Dio  nostro  signore  Voile  di  lei,  come  avea  I'angel  detto,  Fare  H 
ciel  perfetto,"  refer  to  the  famous  second  stanza^of  Dane's  cL 
?l  '' C)onne  ch'avete."~To  prove  the  identity  of  the  ladles 
celebrated  by  the  poets  of  the  new  Florentine  school  is  likewise 
the  object  of  Renier's  book,  "  II  tipo  estetico  della  donna  nel 
medio  evo,'  Ancona,  1885,  which  was  unfavourably  criddsed  by 
Morpurgo,  Riv.  crit.,"  i  132  sqq.^  by  Borgognonif  "La  bellezza 
femminile  e  I'amore  nell'  antica  lirica  ifal "  (in  the  "Nuova 
Antol.,"  October  i6th,  1885,  P-  593  sqq.\  and  by  Fr.  Torraca 
"Donne  reali  e  donne  ideali,"  Roma,   1885  (from  [he^'Ras' 

lT''?•;^^8^He"'^^"'V^^  ^^^-^^^^^  aUnrn  the-ft^n 
le  t.     V.  52-81      He  quotes  De  Sanctis  with  satisfaction  as  his 

ally  (p  80,  ;/^/.);  but  he  has  only  misunderstood  De  Sanctis 
who  fully  realised  this  love,  which  sees  and  spiritualises  the 
Ideal  in  the  actual  woman  herself,  and  who  regarded  Beatrice 
as  a  real  person.  Against  Bartoli's  view  see  D'Ancona's  ad! 
mirable  observations,  "  Vita  Nuova,"  p.  xxxiv  soo  and  a  hrilHa^f 
article  by  D'Ovidio,  "La  Vita  Nuo;a^di  Dantf  ed  una  re^^^^^^^ 
edizione  di  essa"  ("Nuova  Antol.,"  March  15th,  1884  P  2^8 
'^^•- •     *  Jh^^.^h°I%q"estion  of  Beatrice  is  summed  up  b^  Dr 

l^age  238.  G.  B.  Giuliani,  "  II  Convito  di  Dante  Alli^hieri 
reintegrate  nel  testo  con  nuovo  commento,"  Firenze  iSyT 
*  quoted  by  the  author  as  the  "  latest"  edition  ;  now  cf.  the  "  Ox^ 
ford  Dante."  *  That  the  exact  title  is  "Convivio,"  not  "  ConviVo  " 
was  shown  by  Witte,  "Danteforsch,"  ii.  574  ^^^  -Dante's  oh  In 

xTn'e  '-A7'^>  "1^'"^"^'  ^^"^1  '''-  philUp'hie  cathol^^^^^ 
Ai     K-    w  t'    /^"'»  '^5.      E.  Ruth,  "Studien   iiber   Dante 
A  ighieri  (the  first  part),  Tubingen,  1853.    A.  Conti,  in  «  Dante 
e  1   suo  secolo,"  p.  271  sqq.,  and  in  the  "Storia  ddla  filosofia" 
'•  c  c  ' 


H 


f 


4 


'i 


386      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Firenze,  1874,  ii.  132  sqq.     G.  Simmel,  "  Dante's  Psychologic," 
in  the  "Ztschf.  f.  Volkerpsychologie,"  xv.,  18  and  239. 

Page  242.  To  compare  the  sciences  with  the  heavens  appears 
to  have  been  a  general  practice  in  those  days.  In  a  letter  attri- 
buted to  Pier  della  Vigna,  on  the  death  of  a  grammarian  of  the 
University  of  Naples  (Huillard,  "Vie  et  correspond.,"  p.  395) 
we  read  :  "  nam  ars  grammaticic,  quae  luna;  vocabulo  designator, 
privata  decoris  radiis  sedet  in  tenebris." 

Page  244.  Anselm's  parable  on  the  fourfold  sense  of  a  work 
occurs  in  the  "  Eadmeri  liber  de  S.  Anselmi  Similitudinibus," 
caput  194  (iMigne,  "  Patrologia,"  sen  lat.,  t.  159,  p.  707  sq—\\\^ 
"Similitudo  Cellerarii").  Thomas  Aquinas  in  the  "  Summa 
theoL,"  p.  I,  qu.  i.,  art.  10. 

Page  244.  Theodulphus'  verses  are  often  quoted  on  the  hid- 
den meaning  of  poetry  ;  and  at  a  later  period  Alanus  de  Insulis 
("  De  Planctu  NaturxV  p.  296,  in  the  ed.  of  1654),  wrote  :  "At 
in  superficiali  litteric  cortice  falsum  resonat  lyra  potitica,  sed 
interius  auditoribus  secretum  intelligentia:  altioris  eloquitur,  ut, 
exteriore  falsitatis  abiecto  putamine,  dulciorem  nucleum  veri- 
tatis  secrete  intus  lector  inveniat."  Other  passages  from  medie- 
val writers,  as  well  as  some  of  the  fourteenth  century,  are  quoted 
by  Haase, "  De  medii  icvi  studiis  philologicis,"  Programma,  Vra- 
tislavia?,  1856,  pp.  21,  24,  and  by  Perez,  "La  Beatrice  svelata," 
pp.  34-38  ;  see,  too,  among  poems  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  the 
"  Roman  de  la  rose,"  7/.  7918  sqq.,  and  the  "  Leys  d'amors,"  iii. 
252  sq. — Allegory  in  the  works  of  poets  and  philosophers  is 
treated  with  great  fullness  also  by  A.  Lubin,  "La  Commedia 
di  Dante  All.,"  p.  174  sq. 

Page  246.  The  poetical  elements  in  Dante's  science  are  dis- 
cussed by  Francesco  De  Sanctis,  with  his  usual  brilliance,  in 
the  "  Stor.  della  lett.  ital.,"  Napoli,  1870,  i.  60. 

Page  246.  Latterly,  too,  some  scholars  have  thought  that 
Dante  did  not  conceive  the  allegorical  interpretation  of  his 
canzoni  at  the  time  of  their  composition— thus,  Fauriel,  Wegele 
(p.  201),  Todeschini  (i.  320),  Carducci  ("  Studi,"  213)  ;  against 
this  theory,  already  Witte,  "  Lyr.  Ged.,"  ii.  181,  and  now  D'An- 
cona,  "Vita  Nuova,"  p.  Ixvii.  In  view  of  Dante's  express 
assurance,  this  assumption  is  not  justified.  When,  in  the 
sonnet  "  Parole  mie  che  per  lo  mondo  siete,"  he  speaks  of 
Philosophy  as  quella  donna  in  cut  errai,  he  is  merely  adhering 
to  the  image  of  the  love-poetry,  and  does  not  mean  that  he  has 
made  a  mistake  in  philosophy.  The  word  errare  is  here  (as  so 
often  with  the  Sicilians)  almost  equivalent  to  "be  in  distress, 
anxiety"  (cf.  "  V.  N.,"  13  :  Cosl  mi  trovo  in  amorosa  erra^iza). 
The  question  of  the  reality  of  the  Donna  gentile  is  quite  distinct 
from  this,  cf.  "Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  vii.  617. 

Page  247.     The  interpretation  of  the  canzone  "  Tre  donne  "  is 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND   CRITICAL   NOTES      387 
S  Wiue'  "  Lv?  r'eV"  ••^'  'T  ''  P^?^ti^^"y  the  one  preferred 

NHe  and  ,h,.^h.°"^fl'  *!•''  ''^"ghter,  born  at  the  source  of  the 
the'lhird  on'e;  ta'tTs'to'sa^;'":!;"  '^V""'''  ^'""^''^ 
justice  produces  thl  unil°ersa^' ht a"nTaw  atd^rTn  Ttu^n^ 
the  law  of  the  state,  which  is  only  a  modification  of  i     The  source' 

SriSi^,':!''^i^eTaL"d''S:^du'c';1  rTS\h7f  ^''  "^^ 

untenable.— Tommaseo  and  Ginli^^r,;    /.  '    ^'  ^^\^^  ^"'^e 

;he  authenticity  of  ^^t ,pL'';trcJr',Zc^^\%:%'JT^^^^ 

it^a^Xirrs  po^t  r-o^e^  rh^f  s-  -s 

Dante  ?    The  authenticity  of  the  poem  is  confimed ";  P^Tn 

^d  ^fI^sts';^'  n^r"'^:i'r"'"" '°  "i"f-."MNaLucci's 

mentions  as  the  only  ones  in  Florence  ("  l5"'vi. "Sight  S 

p;.y:;5'-uoiTe-i[tnr4;^:-^^^^^^^ 

fnZ:':} ct'''"'' l^TJ'"',  '"  "'"  ca„tilena°^'r./l;": 
,„;/,  •  •  j"^.""  secundum  justum  est  jus  gentium  siv.- 

y  «/»/;««««,«,quod  vult  jus  suura  unicuique  tribuere  et  neminem 
ctim  alterms  jactura  locupletari.  Et  .stud jus  quodamr^orS 
"Jj^Pf-'onsjurts^tpater  guodammodolegis,  ut  i  "d^cta  ^ntT 
lena  dicitur."  We  have  here,  therefore,  the  same  intemretation 
as  s  given  in  the  text,  save  for  the  Drimcra.-Vor^lT^T^ 

Cn"''"'^v  '"^"Vi'"^'*  ^'  '^^  «d  cannot  be  yailt  against 
Florence  ;  th>s  would  not  fit  in  with  the  lofty  consdousnfss  of 
nght  ,n  the  verses  that  precede.  Dante  means  h"ss°nful  mode 
of  hfem  general,  for  which  his  misfortune  might  be  the  nnnUh 

r<'<^oSia'^  "^"'^  ^"'^  ""^  ^^P^"-"«  fs  Ihe^sa^ras't 

is  ~allv  (7^f  'Th"  "  ^^'°'^^  "'^  ^he  per  lo  mondo  siete  " 
^generally  (and  rightly,  as  it  appears)  regarded  as  the  last  of 

see  th'l'iP'"'°'°P''"e'  'y"«  =  ^°^  '^«  interpretation  of  Sfs  poem 
p  iS  4  "'^^"^■aoons  of  Fomaciari,  "  Studi  su  Dame^ 

Page  250.   Charles  Martel  of  Hungary  the  son  nf  rh».-i»=  ri 
of  Naples,  was  at  Florence  in  March,l2^  asT^chint nrovid' 
■•  ■7.  sgg.  ;  see,  too,  Del  Lungo,  "  Dino  Compai„i?l"  50T     ' 


4 

'If 


1 


388      HISTORY  OF   EARLY  ITALIAN  LITERATURE 

Page  251.  For  the  date  of  the  composition  of  the  "Con- 
vivio,"  see  Witte,  "  Lyr.  Ged.,"  ii.  60.— In  "  Conv.,"  iv.  29,  Ser 
Manfredi  da  Vico  is  named  as  praetor  and  prefect  of  Rome. 
According  to  Gregorovius  he  was  there  in  1308  ("  Gesch.  der 
St.  Rom.,"  V.  431  7Wte\  but  likewise  still  in  131 2  (/A,  vi.  45  sq.). 
But  from  the  "  Riv.  crit.,"  iii.  40,  I  gather  that  he  was  there  as 
early  as  1304.  Scolari,  and  after  him  Fraticelli,  in  the  "  Dis- 
sertazione  sul  Convito  "  ("  Opere  minori  di  Dante,"  iii.),  fix  the 
date  of  the  composition  of  treatises  ii.  and  iv.,  c.  1297  or  1298, 
and  that  of  i.  and  iii.,  c.  13 14.  The  theory  that  the  work  was 
composed  at  various  times  was  held  also  by  Selmi  :  "II  Con- 
vito, sua  cronologia,"  etc.,  Torino,  1865.  Their  arguments  were 
refuted  already  by  Witte  ;  see  too  "  Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  vii. 
615  [Nazz.  Angeletti,  "  Cronologia  delle  opere  minori  di  Dante," 
parte  i.,  Cittk  di  Castello,  1885]. 

Page  251.  A  MS.  of  the  Riccardiana,  No.  1044,  gives  the 
complete  list  of  the  14  canzoni  of  the  "Convivio,"  which  is 
printed  in  Giuliani's  "  Conv.,"  p.  741.  But  it  is  wrong,  and  con- 
tradicts even  the  indications  given  by  Dante  himself ;  some  one 
must  have  made  it  up  quite  arbitrarily.  Witte's  attempt  ("  Lyr. 
Ged.,"  ii.,  p.  xxxii  sqq.)  to  determine  the  missing  poems  of  the 
*'  Conv.,"  is  generally  considered  to  be  a  complete  failure.  Selmi 
remarked  (p.  95  sq.)  that  the  number  of  the  missing  treatises 
corresponds  to  the  number  of  eleven  virtues,  postulated  by 
Aristotle  and  accepted  by  Dante  ("Conv.,"  iv.  17),  and  thought 
that  the  treatises  following  the  fourth  were  to  deal  with  these 
eleven  virtues. 

Page  254.  The"De  Eloquentia  Vulgari  "  in  Giuliani's  "  Le 
Opere  Latine  di  Dante  Alighieri,"  Firenze,  1878,  i.  19  sqq.^ 
*  quoted  by  the  author  as  the  "latest"  edition  ;  now  see,  above  all, 
Pio  Rajna's  edition,  Firenze,  1896  ("  il  vol.  I.  delle  opere  minori  di 
Dante  Alighieri,  edizione  critica  procurata  dalla  Society  Dan- 
tesca  italiana ")  ;  a  separate  reprint  of  the  text  alone  (with  a 
certain  number  of  alterations),  Firenze,  1897.  "Traite  de 
I'eloquence  vulgaire,"  a  facsimile  reproduction  of  the  Grenoble 
MS.,  ed.  by  Maignien  and  Prompt,  Venise,  1892.  *  See  on  this 
work  E.  Bohmer,  "  Ueber  Dante's  Schrift  de  vulgari  eloquio," 
Halle,  1868,  and  D'Ovidio's  admirable  paper  (of  which  I  have 
largely  availed  myself),  "  Sul  trattato  de  vulgari  eloquentia  di 
Dante  Alighieri "  (in  the  "  Arch,  glottol.  ital,"  ii.  59  sq.,  and, 
with  some  additions,  in  the  "  Saggi  critici,"  Napoli,  1879,  P-  33° 
sqq.).  *  F.  D'Ovidio,  "Dante  e  la  filosofia  del  linguaggio," 
Napoli,  1892.  * 

Page  255.  The  opinion  that  the  "  De  el  vulg."  was  intended 
to  be  merely  a  Poetica  we  find  expressed  already  by  Giov. 
Maria  Barbieri,  "  Dell'  origine  della  poesia  rimata,"  Modena, 
p.  37,  and  now  by  D'Ovidio,  "  Saggi,"  p.  334. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL   NOTES      389 
Page  258.     For  the  three  species  of  style,  see  "  De  el  vul^  " 

(^uell.  u.  Erorter.  z.  bayer.  u.  deutsch.  Gesch  "  ix  ao-j     J^h 
the  one  from  a  commentary  to  Virfril  nfth^^l     \u     ^^^  '  ■ 
by  Comparetti,  U.  ^"'^'^  ^"^  ^''^'^  of  the  fifteenth  cent.,  given 

Page  259.     For  Dante's  views  on  metre    qf='e  RnV.rvi^^    / 
it  wnf  !,ff^°'   /""  Jpstify  my  interpretation  of  the  Donna  Gentile 

(from  the  "  Prooup-natnrp  "V      tt.«  lo^^^       'r   ^^}^S^^^   1882 
Schorrs  is  exceZrrso^is^el'c^^^^^^^^^ 
the  Pie/ra  might   have  been   Dante's  sister-in-law    l?ipr,^- 
Donate  Brunacci,  the  wife  of  his  brother  F  ancesco     see  aJ^in^ 
th.s  theory  the  "Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phil.,  vii.  176      Imbrian!  Hk 
cusses  some  sonnets  as  well,  which  may  perchanc"   beloL  tn 

^t^harthr"P-    ^""^  '^^-^'^  '°  ''"^  two^other  ."S«.'w"«e's 
P  J^  i,    ^-^r  ^P"""""  "  .""^  generally  shared.       ' 

wi^cTBttsch^!:-sh:rrgfvrthTrem'^^^^^^^ 

("  Dantejahrb.,"  iii.  3.5)  is  CsSe° ehherlX w^th  thL  P "o 
vengals  th,s  term  refers  only  to  the  change  in  the  order  of  the 

'^IT>  ^u '^  ^"i"'^""^'  '^y""^'  ^'"d  identity  of  the  rhvm  n^ 
words  (m  the  manner  of  the  sesi/„a)  have  no  place  in  the  Pro^ 
venial  metric  ^enre  that  goes  by  this  name.     ^  ™" 

Page  264.  Boccaccio's  accusation  that  Dante  was  addicted 
to  /ussurta  till  late  in  life,  is  probably  an  exaggerltfon  the 
period  of  his  human  transgressions  is  certainly  prior \o  the 'vlar 
1300^  In  order  to  see  the  kind  of  evidence  on  which  Boccaccio 
based  his  judgment,  cf.  for  example  his  "Commento^'  lez    58 

^nl/^-  K  l^'!!F  "'^'i.^'  ^^  '^^y^'  ^''"'e  always  shows  himself 
moved  on  beholding  the  punishment  for  those  sins  of  which  he 
had  himself  been  guilty,  and  that  the  tortures  of  the  Sodomites 
make  such  an  impression  on  him,  the  excellent  BoccaccSs 
himself  whether  Dante  was  not  himself  perhaps  takted  tith 
this  vice,  and  leaves  each  reader  to  decide  for^  himself -The 


\S        i 


I 


I 


s 


390     HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

other  arguments  that  have  been  quoted  to  prove  Dante's  sensu- 
ality have  little  value.  Ubaldo  di  Sebastiano  da  Gubbio,  who, 
in  his  "  Teleutelogio,"  called  Dante  his  master  from  youth  up- 
wards, was  scarcely  his  pupil,  in  our  sense  of  the  word  (cf.  Maz- 
zatinti,  in  the  *'Arch.  stor.  ital,"  sen  iv.,  t.  vii.,  p.  265).  He 
need  not  even  have  known  him  personally  ;  he  might  have  called 
him  prcEceptorem^  because  he  had  learned  from  his  works,  as 
Boccaccio  did  with  reference  to  Dante  and  Petrarch. 

Page  264.  The  exact  date  of  Forese's  death  was  discovered 
by  Del  Lungo,  "  Dino  Compagni,"  ii.  611.— Witte  discusses  the 
relations  between  Dante  and  Forese  in  the  "  Dantef ,"  ii.  76  sqq. 
Scartazzini  thought  that  they  had  discussed  philosophy  together 
("Abhandl.  iiber  Dante,"  162). 

Page  265.  The  complete  proof  for  the  authenticity  of  the 
correspondence  in  sonnet  form,  was  first  given  by  Carducci, 
"  Studi,"  p.  160  sqq.,  andj  236  ;  see,  too,  Fanfani,  "  Studi  ed 
osservazioni  sopra  il  testo  delle  opere  di  Dante,"  Firenze,  1874, 
p.  299  sqq.  Del  Lungo  discovered  the  fifth  sonnet,  and  had 
them  all  printed  together  in  his  "  Dino  Compagni,"  ii.  610  sqq. 
But  if  he  thinks  that  he  has,  by  his  diffuse  commentary,  con- 
tributed a  great  deal  towards  the  elucidation  of  the  meaning,  he 
Is  mistaken  ;  on  the  contrary,  he  has  misunderstood  and  ob- 
scured a  number  of  points.  Thus,  in  Forese's  sonnet,  "  L'altra 
notte"  he  refers  the  Alaghiei'  to  Dante  himself  (p.  614  and  622), 
whereas,  of  course,  his  father  is  meant.  The  copertoio  cortonese 
in  Dante's  "  Chi  udisse  tossir,"  is  certainly  taken  in  the  wrong 
way  on  p.  613.  It  is  probably  ionadattic:  she  has  copertoio 
corto\  that  is,  "il  marito  non  le  serve  abbastanza  di  copertoio" 
(cf.  Machiavelli,  "  Mandragola,"  ii.  6  ;  "  lo  ho  paura,  che  costei 
non  sia  la  notte  mal  coperta;  e  per  questo  fa  I'orina  cruda" — 
where  we  have  the  same  equivocal  meaning).  In  the  sonnet 
"Ben  ti  faranno,"  the  "cuoio  che  fark  la  vendetta  della  carne"  can- 
not possibly  mean  what  Del  Lungo  would  have  it  mean  (p.  616). 
It  is  probably  rather  the  skin  of  Forese  himself,  which  has  to  do 
penance  for  the  fattening  of  the  flesh  ;  that  is  to  say,  he  gets  the 
scabbia  from  it,  to  which  reference  is  made  in  the  sonnet  "  Bicci 
novel"  (cf.  also  the  "  Anonimo  Fiorentino").  In  "  Bicci  novel" 
we  are  told  at  the  end  that  Bicci  and  the  brothers  knew  with 
their  evil  gains  "  a  lor  donne  buon  cognati  stare,"  that  is,  as  I 
think,  they  lead  a  riotous  life  outside  the  house  with  their  ill- 
gotten  money — stanno  cognati  is  tantamount  to  non  stanno 
inariti,  they  neglect  their  duty  as  husbands  :  cognato  is  here  the 
contrary  of  marito,  because  the  former  is  least  of  all  permitted 
to  do  that  which  it  is  the  latter's  duty  to  do ;  cf.  the  Provencal 
stanza  (in  the  "  Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  iv.  508)  :  *'  Donna  que  de 
cognat  fai  drut,  E  de  marit  sab  far  cognat,  a  ben  damideu 
renegat."     How  can  this  passage  contain  an  allusion  to  Dante's 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      391 

relationship  with  the  Donati  (as   Del  Lungo  holds,  p.  617)? 
Forese  s  taunts  at  Dante's  forbearance  occur  in   the   sonneV, 
"Ben  so  che  fosti  figlmol  d'Allaghieri."     But  that  other  one 
begmnmg       L'altra   notte,"   with   its   obscure   words-"  trovai 

Alaghier  fra  le  fosse  Legato  a  nodo E  quei  mi  disse  : 

Per  amor  di  Dante  scio'  mi,"  appears  also  to  allude  to  the 
fact  that  the  father  could  find  no  peace,  owing  to  the  omis- 
sion of  some  act  of  vengeance.  It  is  not  clear,  whether  and  how 
this  IS  connected  with  the  unavenged  murder  committed  by  the 
Sacchetti,  which  is  mentioned  in  the  "Commedia."  For  the 
meaning  of  a  passage,  and  the  order  of  the  sonnets,  see,  too, 
H.  Suchier,  "Ueber  die  Tenzone  Dante's  mit  Forese  Donati  (in 
the     Miscellanea  Caix-Canello,"  p.  289  sqq.).  ^ 

Page  266.  On  Dante's  children,  see  Passerini,  in  "  Dante  e  il 
n"?'M  ""'','  F'  ^^i  Todeschini,  i.  ^^3  ;  Imbriani  in  the  "Gior- 
nale  Napoletano,"  nuova  ser.  vii.  63-87;  Bartoli,  "Stor  lett  » 

nn.'^Vf'  |?^^!-i^"^.".Gabriello  di  Dante  di  All'aghiero"  (per 
nozze  Papanti-Giraudmi,  Napoli,  1882).  ^ 

Page  266  The  document  which  proves  Gemma  Donati  to  have 
been  still  hvmg  in  1333  was  published  by  Imbriani  in  the 
Propugn.,  xiu.  !«,  is6  sqq.,  and  in  "Quando  nacque  Dante?" 
p.  91.  Against  the  identification  of  Gemma  with  the  Donna 
gentile,  see  Todeschmi,  1.  332  ;  Witte,  "  Dantejahrb.,"  iii.  c.2 
sq.,  Scartazzini,  ib  iv.  193,  sqq.  Now  Scartazzini,  "  Dante  in 
Germania,"  11.  336  sqq.,  has  decided  in  favour  of  the  identifica- 
tion It  IS  not  worth  while  replying  to  him  ;  if  we  wait  for  his 
next  book,  he  will  refute  his  own  arguments.  Against  some  of 
the  earlier  accusations,  Gemma  was  admirably  defended  already 
by  Foscolo,  "Discorso,"  §  90-96.  For  the  bibliography  of  the 
dispute,  which  has  recently  begun  again,  see  Witte,  "  Dantef.  " 
11.  48  sqq  See  also  SchefTer-Boichorst,  "Aus  Dante's  Ver- 
bannung"  Strassburg,  1882,  p.  211  sqq.     He  is  opposed,  and 

Dante   m   Germania,"   11.   281    sqq.-    see,    too,    T.    Klaczko 
Causeries  florentines/'  Paris,  1880,  p.  108.     We  have.  In  aH 

rif^ff.H'^^f' '  Tl^  l'"'-^'''^  5"^,  "^^  ^^^  arguments,  which  were 
refuted  already  by  Foscolo,  dished  up  again. 

Page  268.  Did  Dante's  family  belong  to  the  nobility?  Ac- 
cording to  Boccaccio,  they  were  a  branch  of  the  Elisei,  who 
were  descended  from  the  Roman  Frangipani.  The  latter  detail 
s  certainly  wrong  ;  when  Dante  alluded  to  his  Roman  origin 
1  int.,  XV.  75  sqq),  he  was  only  counting  himself  as  one  of  the 
Older  portion  of  the  inhabitants,  who  were  descended  from  the 
Roman  colonists  and  was  not  implying  in  any  way  that  his 
tamily  was  derived  from  any  definite  Roman  stock.    But  Todes- 

^nH^lc''  ""il  f  •^'  V-^"^  ^^^'^^  ^^^^  ^^  belonged  to  the  Elisei, 
and  thought  that  this  was  an  erroneous  tradition,  based  on  the 


S 


'i    -I' 


^ittm  ^^miimmm^^  ,^ 


392      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

circumstance  that  the  name  of  Cacciaguida's  brother  was  Eliseo, 
from  whom,  however,  the  Elisei  could  not  be  descended,  as  the 
family  had  long  existed  when  he  was  born.     Further,  Todes- 
chini  denies  that  Dante  belonged  to  the  Grandly  especially  (i) 
because  the  family   bore  no  family  name  ;    a  de  Alagheriis 
appears  probably  first  in  Brunectus,  1260,  then  in  1297:  Dante 
et  Frattciscus  Jil.   oL  A  higher ii  de  Alagheriis  (cf.   "  Casa  di 
Dante,"  p.  39).     In  all  other  cases  the  son  is  simply  called  after 
the  father,  as  was  usual  among  the  popolani — Dante  Alagherii, 
In  the  document  of  S.  Gemignano  (1299)  he  is  called  nobilis -, 
but  this  was  written  by  strangers  ;   (2)  because  Dante  in  the 
"Convivio"   (tr.   iv.)    expressed    himself   so    strongly  against 
hereditary  nobility.     Scartazzini,  "Abhandl.  iiber  Dante,"  p.  i 
sqq.y  as  usual,  reproduced  Todeschini's  exposition,  but  at  greater 
length.     G.  Fenaroli,  *'  La  vita  e  i  tempi  di  Dante  Alighieri," 
Dissertazione  la,  "La  stirpe,"  etc.,  Torino,  1882,  refuted  Todes- 
chini,  at   times  with   acumen,  but   unfortunately  with   terrible 
diffuseness.     The  vicinity  of  the  houses  appears,  in  his  view,  to 
favour  the  relationship  with  the  Elisei  ;  the  name  may,  after  all, 
be  derived  from  Eliseo,  Cacciaguida's  brother,  as  family  names 
were  not  universally  used  till  the  twelfth  century  :  the  names 
given  by  Villani  to  the  noble  families  are  of  later  date.     That 
the  Alighieri  do  not  occur  in  Villani's  lists  of  nobles  is  due  to 
this  very  fact  that  they  were  reckoned  to  the  Elisei  ;  besides, 
Villani   mentions   only   those  families   that  were   powerful   by 
reason  of  their  adherents  and  wealth.     It  remains  to  be  seen 
whether  this  is  correct,  and  also  whether  Villani  could  include 
them  in  the  same  list   as  the   Elisei,   although   the   Alighieri 
belonged  to  the  opposite  party.     But  the  main  question  Fenaroli 
leaves  unanswered — why  the   Alighieri  are  mentioned  almost 
invariably  without  a  family  name  still  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
as  he  himself  repeatedly  admits.    If  they  were  not  yet  Alighieri, 
why  do  they  not  call  themselves  Elisei  ?   And  if  their  connection 
with   these  was   not  yet  clearly  recognised   (as  Fenaroli  says 
on  p.  17),  and  if,  on  the  other  hand,  their  existence  as  a  separate 
family  was  not  securely  established,  could  they  still  be  counted 
noble?    Then,  again,  the  question  may  be   put— what   is   the 
origin  of  the  arms  of  the  Alighieri  ?    Passerini,  in  "  Dante  e  il 
suo  secolo,"  p.  59,  ftote,  says  that  they  come  from  a  Florentine 
MS.,    "Che   fu   dei   da   Vernazzano,   in    cui   nel    1302    furono 
delineate   le   armi   delle  famiglie   che  appartenevano  a  parte 
guelfa."     But  this   MS.  was  lost  in  a   shipwreck  while   being 
taken  to  France,  and  only  copies  of  it  are  in  existence,  some  of 
which  are  said  to  be  very  old.     Del  Lungo  saw  an  allusion  to 
the   arms  in  Forese's  poem,  "  Ben  so  che  fosti "  (cf.  "  Dino 
Comp.,"  ii.  618,   ?tote)  ;    but  his    interpretation  is   doubtful. — 
Further,  Fenaroli  thinks  that  Dante's  nobility  is  proved  by  his 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES      393 

familiar  attitude  towards  the  nobles  he  meets  in  the  "Commedia"  • 
especially,  he  says  (p.  38  sq.),  Dante  could  not  have  conducted 
himself  so  haughtily  with  a  man  like  Farinata,  if  he  had  not 
himself  been  of  noble  descent.     But  is  this  correct.?     Perhaps 
the  distinction  between  popolo  and  piebe  is  here  not  sufficiently 
taken  into  account;  Bartoli,  too  ("Stor.  lett.,"  v.  13)  did  not 
keep  the  two  apart.     A  man  could  be  a  popolano,  and  still  belong 
to  a  very  distinguished  and  influential  family.     Many  doubts 
therefore,    remain.     On  the   other  hand,  Fenaroli  is  certainly 
right  m  his  assertion  that  the  canzone  on  "Nobiltk"  and  the 
fourth  treatise  of  the  "Convivio"  are,  by  no  means,  a  proof  of 
Dante  s  descent  from  the  people.    That  nobility  did  not  depend 
on  birth,  but  on  virtue  alone,  was,  in  those  days,  a  commonplace 
of  the  poets  and  of  the  disputes  in  the  schools  of  rhetoric     It  was 
treated  not  only  by  men  like  Jehan  de  Meung  in  the  "  Roman 
de  la  Rose,'  2/.  19540  sqq.,  Cecco  d'Ascoli  in  the  "Acerba"  (cf. 
Bariola,  "  Cecco  d'Ascoli,"  Firenze,  1879,  P-  43),  Bindo  Bonichi; 
canz.  11   (very  much  like  Dante's  poem),  and  canz.  x.,  stanzas  i 
and  2,  but  also,  as  is  well  known,  by  Guido  Guinicelli,  whom 
Dante  followed.     Are  we,  on  that  account,  to  assume  that  the 
family  of  the  Principi  was  not  noble  }    Are  we,  further  to  make 
this  assumption  in  the  case  of  Thomas  Aquinas,  who  likewise 
proved  that  nobility  consisted  not  in  birth,  but  only  in  virtue 
(see  the  passage  in  Ozanam's  "  Dante  et  la  phil.,»  p.  484  so  )  ? 
For  the  rest,  Thomas  refers  to  Hieronymus,  and  Boethius  made 
similar  statements  concerning  nobility  ("  Cons.   Phil  "  iii    6) 
Thus,  too,  at  a  later  period,  ^neas  Sylvius  Piccolomini,  in  the 
story  of  Euryalus  and  Lucretia,  "Opera"  (ed.  BasileiE,  155 1) 
p.  1 55 1.     That  the  theme  was  treated  in  the  schools  is  proved 
by  the   letter  of  a    certain    Magister    T.   addressed    to   Pier 
della   Vigna    and   Taddeo  da   Sessa,   which   is   contained   in 
several    MSS.    (for  example,    in    the   one  at   Breslau)   of  the 
Epistolas  Petri  de  Vinea,"   and   the  beginning  and  close  of 
which  are  given  by  Huillard-Breholles,  "Vie  et  corresp.,"  p  319 
—It  may  be  noted,  by  the  way,  that  the  definition  of  nobility  as 
consisting  in  ancient  wealth  and  good  manners,  which  Dante 
l^TT-     ""i'  '^-  ^^l'  ^"^ib^tes  to  Frederick  II.,  is  quoted  in  the 
l^iore  di  virtu  '  as  being  by  Alexander,  but  is  at  the  same  time 
assimilated  with  that  of  Aristotle,  who  made  nobility  consist  in 
ancient  wealth  and  virtue  {i.e.,  on  the  part  of  the  ancestors,  which 
point  was,  at  that  time,  not  clearly  understood).     It  is  singular 
too,  that  Dante  does  not,   in  this  treatise  of  the  "  Convivio '' 
quote   Aristotle's  axiom,   so   similar   to   the   one   ascribed   to 
!•  rederick,  whereas  he  gives  it  in  the  "  Monarchia,"  ii.  3.     Per- 
chance he   was   not   acquainted   with   it   when   he   wrote  the 
Convivio,"  which  would  be  a  further  proof  for  the  priority  of 
the    Convivio."     The  second  definition  disputed  by  Dante  ac- 


I 


I 


l! 


394      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

cording  to  which  nobility  depended  solely  on  ancient  wealth, 
occurs  again  in  a  canzone  by  Monte  Andrea  (in  D'Ancona's 
"  Antiche  rime  volgari,"  vol.  iii.,  No.  288,  stanza  3) ;  and  Guilem 
de  Cerveira  said  :  "  El  libre  dits  dels  Keys  Que  als  no  es 
noblesa  (Guarda  tu  cossit  creys)  Mas  entigua  riquesa"  (see 
"  Romania,"  xv.  32,  stanza  66). 

Page  268  The  register  with  the  note  on  Dante's  admission 
to  the  guild  is  preserved  only  in  a  copy  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  refers  to  the  years  1297- 1300,  which  must  be  an  error,  as 
Dante  appears  in  the  council  of  the  hundred  as  early  as  1296 
(see  Fraticelli,  "Vita  di  Dante,"  p.  112).  Imbriani  doubts  the 
authenticity  of  the  document  ("  Quando  nacque  Dante,"  p.  55j^.) 
The  document  concerning  the  embassy  to  S.  Gemignano,  which 
was  thought  to  be  lost,  has  been  unearthed,  and  is  now  in  the 
archives  at  Florence  ;  it  was  published  in  the  '  Riv.  crit.,"  li.  29. 

Page  269.  That  the  comizii  del  priorato  in  the  letter  quoted 
by  Leonardo  Aretino  must  mean  the  assembly  convened  for  the 
election  of  the  priors  was  noted  by  Scheffer-Boichorst,  "  Ztschf. 
f.  rom.  Phil,"  vii.  469  sq. 

Page  269.  That  the  party  names  of  Bianchi  and  Nen  were 
not  assumed  till  1301  (later  than  was  generally  thought),  was 
pointed  out  by  Del  Lungo,  "  Dino  Compagni,"i.  198  ;  ii.  \\t>sqq. 
For  the  whole  development  of  the  catastrophe  at  Florence,  see, 
besides  Del  Lungo's  work,  the  interesting  book  of  Guido  Levi, 
"  Bonifazio  VIII.  e  le  sue  relazioni  col  comune  di  Firenze,"  Roma, 
1882,  especially  p.  57  sqq.  .   . 

Page  270.  The  documents  relating  to  Dante's  political  activity 
in  the  year  1301  have  now  been  collected  (with  some  emenda- 
tions) by  Imbriani,  in  the  "  Propugnatore,"  xiii.  2".  199  sqq.— 
Bartoli  ("  Stor.  lett.,"  v.  1 13, 140)  apparently  knows  of  three  other 
occasions  on  which  Dante  voted  (on  December  loth,  1296, 
March  14th,  1297,  and  in  1301)  ;  but  he  has  merely  misunder- 
stood the  passage  of  Del  Lungo  there  quoted.  Besides,  he  has 
erroneously  transferred  the  vote  of  June  5th,  1296,  to  March  14th, 
1297. 

Page  271.  It  has  generally  been  assumed  that  Dante  was  in 
Rome,  as  ambassador,  at  the  time  of  his  condemnation  ;  this 
view  being  supported  by  a  passage  in  Dino  Compagni  and  by 
the  account  of  Leonardo  Aretino.  But  this  embassy  is  very  im^- 
probable,  as  was  shown  by  V.  Imbriani,  "  Propugn.,"  xii.  2°, 
p.  220-224,  and,  with  some  fresh  arguments,  by  Scartazzini, 
"Dante  in  Germania,"  ii.  341  sqq.,  and  by  Pasquale  Papa  m 
Bartoli's  "  Stor.  lett.,"  v.  337  sqq. 

Page  271.  For  the  documents  relating  to  Dante's  exile  see 
Fraticelli,  and  Del  Lungo's  "  Dell  esilio  di  Dante,"  Firenze, 
1881.  Dante's  supposed  vote  at  Florence  on  March  26th, 
1302,  is  an  error  of  late  date  ;  see  Del  Lungo,  "  Dino  Compagni,' 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND   CRITICAL   NOTES      395 

ii.  225  sq.  The  very  number  of  condemnations  on  the  strength 
of  the  identical  accusation  proves  that  the  baratieria  with  which 
Dante  was  charged  was  merely  an  invention,  a  pretext,  as  is 
generally  assumed  ;  this  is  proved,  too,  by  his  own  haughty  con- 
sciousness of  innocence,  which  must  needs  be  true  in  the  case  of 
a  man  of  such  character.  But  Imbriani  ("  Propugn."  xiii.  2",  p. 
208  sq.)  thinks  there  may  have  been  something  in  it,  after  all ; 
if  he  was  not  a  bafatticre,  the  people  may  have  thought  he  was 
one,  and  he  might  have  become  one  had  he  remained  in  Florence. 
But  how  strange  that  all  these  barattieri  were  Bianchi  !  nor  is 
it  a  fair  method  to  cast  aspersions  on  a  man  on  the  strength  of 
assumptions  and  possibilities,  in  the  absence  of  facts.  Still, 
this  reasoning  made  an  impression  on  Pasquale  Papa,  who  like- 
wise admits  the  possibility  of  baratteria,  I.e.,  p.  362.  What  kind 
of  a  man  must  Dante  have  been  if  he  was  guilty  of  barratry,  and 
then  called  himself  innocent,  over  and  over  again  1 

Page  271.  That  the  document  of  S.  Godenzo  belongs  to  the 
year  1302,  though  a  much  later  date  was  frequently  assigned  to 
it,  was  proved  by  Repetti  and  Todeschini  (i.  254-256)  ;  see,  too, 
Del  Lungo,  "  Dino  Compagni,"  ii.  562  sqq.,  where  the  document 
is  printed  as  well.— Dante  went  to  Verona  at  the  latest  towards 
the  beginning  of  1304  ;  for  Bartolommeo  della  Scala  died  on 
March  7  of  that  year,  and  he  alone  can  be  meant  by  the  gran 
Loinbardo  of  "Par."  xvii.  71— cf.  Todeschini,  i.  241  sqq.  Del 
Lungo's  arguments  against  this  are  sophistical. 

Page  273.  Todeschini,  i.  213^^^.,  doubted  the  authenticity 
of  the  letter  on  the  death  of  Alessandro  da  Romena,  but  was 
opposed  by  Witte,  "  Dantef.,"  ii.  220  sqq. 

Page  273.  V.  Imbriani,  "  II  documento  Carrarese  che  pruova 
Dante  in  Padova  ai  27  di  agosto  del  1306,"  Pomigliano  d'Arco, 
1 88 1. — The  documents  bearing  on  the  conclusion  of  peace  at 
Sarzana  are  contained  in  Fraticelli's  "  Vitadi  Dante,"  p.  i()7  sqq. 

Page  273.  The  letter  to  Moroello  is  held  to  be  spurious  by 
Scartazzini  "Dante"  (in  the  "Man.  Hoepli "),  ii.  70  ;  likewise 
now  by  Bartoli,  "  Stor.  lett.,"  v.  187,  who  had  previously  (iv.  285) 
explained  it  allegorically.  That  Dante  should  write  to  a  prince 
concerning  his  love,  might  appear  surprising  to  us  nowadays  ;  but 
in  the  first  place  Malaspina  was  not  a  king,  and,  secondly,  exalted 
love  as  the  source  of  poetry  was,  in  those  days,  an  important 
theme  ;  the  letter  is  the  preface  to  the  canzone  he  is  sending. 

Page  274  sq.  Dante's  relations  with  Gentucca  were  held  to 
be  platonic,  among  others,  by  Carducci,  "  Studi,"  209  ;  Renier, 
"  Vita  Nuova  e  Fiammetta,"  206  ;  Scartazzini,  "  Dante  in  Ger- 
mania," ii.  296.  On  the  other  hand,  Scheffer-Boichorst,  "Aus 
Dante's  Verbannung,"  p.  216  and  218,  regards  this  as  a  sensual 
love,  following  the  statement  in  the  commentary  which  is  attri- 
buted to  Pietro  di  Dante ;  if  this  is  by  Dante's  son  (as  I,  too, 


11 


k 


'f 


] 


(I 


396      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

believe),  the  latter  has  understood  but  little  of  his  father's  spirit, 
and  his  testimony  is  not  of  much  account.  V.  Imbriani,  "  Gior- 
nale  Napoletano,"  nuova  sen,  vii.  74  sgq.,  imagined  this  to  have 
been  merely  a  vulgar  intrigue,  and  thought  that  Gentucca  must 
have  belonged  to  the  lower  orders,  as  Dante  called  h&r  femmina. 
However,  Scartazzini,  /.r.  p.  296,  note,  gave  examples  showing 
that  Dante  employed  the  word  without  this  meaning.  The 
attempts  that  have  been  made  to  identify  Gentucca  with  some 
definite  person  were  refuted  by  Imbriani,  and  rightly  so.— For 
Dante's  stay  at  Lucca,  cf.  Witte,  "  Dantef.,"  ii.  278. 

Page  275.  The  letter  beginning  Papule  mee,  now  lost,  was 
quoted  by  Leonardo  Aretino,  and  was  certainly  alluded  to  by 
G.  Villani,  too,  when  he  speaks  (ix.  136)  of  a  letter  adre^gimento^ 
di  Firenzc  ;  this  was  assumed  already  by  Foscolo,  "  Discorso," 

Page  275.  The  letter  of  Frate  Ilario  is  printed  in  Fraticelli  s 
"  Vita  di  Dante,"  p.  357  sqq.  For  the  bibliography  on  it,  oi.ib., 
p.  349  sqq.,  Witte,  Dantef.,"  i.  A^sq.,  Ferrazzi,  "  Man.  Dant,"  11., 
597  sq,  Scheffer-Boichorst,  "  Aus  Dante's  Verbannung,'  Strass- 
burg,  1882,  p.  229  sqq.,  endeavoured  again  to  prove  its  authen- 
ticity, but  treated  with  too  much  lofty  disdain  the  very  weighty 
arguments  on  the  other  side.  Against  its  authenticity,  Scar- 
tazzini, "  Dante  in  Germania,"  ii.,  308  j^^.— The  journey  to  Pans 
was  considered  doubtful,  among  others,  also  by  Witte,  "  Dantef.,' 

ii.  278. 

Page  277.  Dante's  letters  :  Giuliani,  "  Opere  latine  di  Dante 
Allighieri,"  vol.  ii.,  Firenze,  1882,  *  quoted  as  the  "latest" 
edition  by  the  author;  now  see  the  "Oxford  Dante";  cf.,  too, 
C.  S.  Latham  and  G.  R.  Carpenter,  "A  translation  of  Dante's 
eleven  letters  with  explanatory  notes  and  historical  comments," 
lioston,  1892.  *  Several  of  them  have  been  condemned  as 
spurious,  each  scholar  regarding  this  or  that  one  as  a  forgery, 
according  as  it  does  not  fit  in  with  his  views  on  Dante.  Vitt. 
Imbriani  considers  all  Dante's  letters  apocryphal,  thus  making, 
at  any  rate,  a  radical  clearance  ;  see  especially  "  Propugn.,"  xiii. 
2",  229-233,  where  even  the  letter  to  the  Emperor  Henry  is 
"  proved  "  to  be  spurious. 

Page  279.  For  the  three  letters  addressed  by  the  Countess 
of  BaUfolle  to  the  Empress,  which  are  supposed  to  have  been 
written  by  Dante,  see  Witte,  "Dantef.,"  i.,  486,  ii.  I95>  206' 
229  sq.  The  first  is  dated  May  18,  131 1.  They  are  contained 
in  the  same  MS.  as  letters  by  Dante.  Scheflfer-Boichorst, 
"Ztschf.  f.  rom.  Phil.,"  vi.,  645,  drew  attention  to  some  remark- 
able instances  of  agreement  with  the  latter  in  point  of  language ; 
but  might  these  not  be  terms  of  speech  commonly  used  in  those 

days  ? 

Page  281.     The  date  of  the  composition  of  the  "  De  Mon- 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND   CRITICAL   NOTES      397 

archia"  was  proved  by  Scheffer-Boichorst,  "Aus  Dante's  Verb- 
annung,"  p.   105-138.     According  to  all  the  MSS.,  there  is  a 
reference  to  "  Par."  v.  in  the  "  Mon."  i.,  12,  and  we  have  no  rit^ht 
to  cancel  the  words,  as  was  done  by  Witte  and  Giuliani      The 
"Monarchia"  and  "Paradiso"  were  therefore  written  during 
Dante's  last  years.    Scartazzini's  objection  ("  Giorn.  Stor  d  lett 
ital.,"  1.,  i-josq.)  that  Dante  does  not  elsewhere  quote  his  own 
writings,  IS  not  correct:  in  the  "Convivio"he  refers  by  anti 
cipation  to  the  "  De  El.  Vulg.,"  and  discusses  the  "  Vita  Nuova  " 
while  m  the  "  De  El.  Vulg."  he  several  times  quotes  his  own 
canzoni.     In    'Dante  in  Germania,"  ii.   317  sqq.^  Scartazzini's 
arguments  are  no  better,  and  the  reference  to  the  "  Commedia" 
is  wrongly  declared  to  be  a  variant  reading  of  some  of  the  MSS 
whereas  it  is  contained  in  all  of  them  ;   that  the  "Paradiso'' 
must  have  been  published  for  Dante  to  be  able  to  quote  it  is  a 
poor  hypothesis.— Witte's  reasons  for  fixing  the  date  before  the 
exile  were  excellently  refuted  already  by  Wegele,  p    3iv^22 
371-384,  and  again  by  Scheffer-Boichorst,  Lc.    That  the  "Mon' 
archia"  was  written  in  any  case  after  1311,  is  proved  probably 
by  the  mere  employment  of  the  image  of  the  two  lights  in  the 
letter  to  the  princes  and  peoples  of  Italy,  and  in  the  one  to  the 
Florentines;  at  least,  he  would  not  have  used  it  in  this  way 
after  what  he  had  said  in  the  "Monarchia"   on   this   point' 


*  the  "Oxford  Dante."  *— See,  too,  E.  Bohmer,  "  Ueber  Dante's 
Monarchia,"  Halle,  1866;  K.  Hegel,  "Dante  iiber  Staat  und 
Kirche'  (a  "Programm"),  Rostock,  1842.  A  very  good  expo- 
sition of  Dante's  political  system  will  be  found  in  Ruth  "Studien 
iiber  Dante,"  p.  1 19  sqq.  ' 

Page  281.  The  real  relationship  in  which  Dante  stands  to 
the  political  unity  of  Italy  was  stated  by  Witte  in  the  "  Dantef.  " 
ii.  237  sqq.  *' 

Page  282.  The  image  of  the  two  lights  for  Pope  and  Em- 
peror occurs  in  a  letter  of  Innocent  IV.  (1201),  quoted  by  Perez 
;'  La  Beatrice  svelata,"  p.  38  ;  again,  in  "  Petri  de  Vineis  Epist.  " 
1.  31  (ed.  Basileae,  1566).  In  the  "Commedia"  Dante  speaks 
of  two  suns.  Then  Cmo  da  Pistoia  saw  the  Emperor  expressed 
by  the  sun,  the  Pope  by  the  moon  (cf.  L.  Chiappelli,  "  Vita  e 
opere  giuridiche  di  Cino  da  Pistoia,"  Pistoia,  1881,  p.  135;  see 
10.,^.  117  sqq.,  for  Cino's  poHtical  ideas,  almost  identical 'with 
those  of  Dante.— For  the  connection  between  Dante's  theory 
and  Frederick  II.'s  doctrine  of  the  two  powers,  see  De  Blasiis 
Delia  vita  e  delle  opere  di  Pietro  della  Vigna,"  Napoli  i860' 
p.  165  sqq.,  and  Huillard-Breholles,  "  Vie  et  correspondance  de 
Pierre  de  la  Vigne,"  Paris,  1865,  P-  162  sqq. 


i 


I 


398      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Page  283.  When  Del  Lungo  ("  Dino  Compagni,"  ii.  604-610, 
and  ''  Dell'essiglio  di  Dante,"  p.  50)  endeavours  to  prove  that 
Dante  was  not  a  Ghibelline,  or  rather,  that  he  was  one  only  per 
forza,  having  been  counted  as  one  of  the  GhibelHnes  by  his 
enemies  after  his  exile,  that  is  merely  a  verbal  quibble.  For  we 
know  that  he  wished  to  form  a  party  for  himself,  and  that  he 
was  therefore  neither  a  Guelph  nor  a  (ghibelline,  according  to 
the  meaning  the  words  bore  at  that  time,  when  the  parties  no 
longer  had  any  lofty  aims.  But  he  was  a  Ghibelline  in  the  true, 
original  sense  of  the  word,  being  a  champion  of  the  (Ghibelline 
idea,  as  represented  by  Frederick  II.  and  Pier  della  Vigna,— a 
defender  of  the  imperial  rights.  Del  Lungo  (p.  607)  is  in  favour 
of  calling  him  a  gut^lfo  itnperialista  ;  but  did  the  word  "  Guelph  " 
represent  anything  in  those  days  beyond  a  merely  superficial 
denomination?  Besides,  Dante  himself  did  not  want  a  party 
name.  Dante's  position  was  stated  quite  correctly  already  by 
Hegel,  Lc,  p.  17  and  20. 

Page  285.  Scheffer-Boichorst,  "Aus  Dante's  Verb.,"  p.  151 
sqq.^  endeavoured  to  prove  the  authenticity  of  the  letter  to  Guido 
Novello ;  however,  doubts  will  always  remain,  unless  by  chance 
the  Latin  original  be  discovered.  Thus,  against  its  authenticity, 
Bartoli,  ''  Stor.  lett.,"  v.  243  sqq. — That  the  visits  to  Verona  were 
merely  excursions  from  Ravenna  was  held  by  Tiraboschi,  Cappi 
(in  "  Dante  e  il  suo  secolo,"  p.  813  j^^.),  and  Scheffer-Boichorst. 

Page  285.  The  "Quaestio  de  Aqua  et  Terra":  Fraticelli, 
"Opere  Minori  di  Dante,"  ii.  416  sqq.^  and  Giuliani,  "Opere 
Latine  di  Dante,"  ii.  355  sqq.\  *  these  are  quoted  by  the  author 
as  the  "  latest "  editions  ;  now  cf.  the  "  Oxford  Dante."  *  Stop- 
pani  (in  Giuliani,  p.  451  sqq.)  has  greatly  exaggerated  the 
scientific  value  of  the  treatise ;  most  of  the  important  points  it 
contains  may  be  found  in  Brunetto  Latini's  "Tresor,"  as  was 
shown  by  Gaiter  in  the  "  Propugn.,"  xv.  i",  p.  430  sqq.  As  no 
early  MSS.  are  known,  the  treatise  was  held  to  be  a  forgery  by 
Tiraboschi  and  others,  including  Bartoli,  "Stor.  lett.,"  v.  294 
sqq.  A  forger  living  in  the  sixteenth  century,  who  could  write 
so  exactly  in  Dante's  sense  and  with  Dante's  words,  appears  to 
me  too  great  a  miracle.     *  See  Dr.  Moore,  "  Studies  in  Dante," 

ii.,  pp.  303-357-  *  ... 

Page  286.  The  correspondence  with  Giovanni  del  Virgilio 
has  been  edited  by  Fraticelli,  i.  409  sqq..,  and  by  Giuliani,  ii. 
301  sqq.  *  F.  Pasqualigo,  *' Ecloghe  di  G.  del  Vergilio  e  di 
Dante  Alighieri  annotate  da  anonimo  contemporaneo,"  etc., 
Lonigo,  1897.  *  See  on  it  Witte,  "  Lyr.  Ged.,"  ii.  213  sqq.\ 
*  F.  Macri-Leone,  "  La  Bucolica  latina  nella  lett.  italiana  del 
sec  xiv.,"  parte  i.,  Torino,  1889.  ♦  It  may  be  doubted  whether 
the  last  poem  is  by  Dante  ;  even  Witte  was  struck  by  such 
honourable  designations  as  venerande  senex,  illustre  caputs  and 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND   CRITICAL   NOTES      399 

by  the  rest  of  the  praise  that  Dante  lavishes  on  himself  The 
eclogue  always  speaks  of  Tityrus  (Dante)  in  the  third  person 
while  the  first  one  always  has  ego;  further,  the  author  of  the 
eclogue  says  that  the  dialogue  between  Tityrus  and  Alohe 
siboeus  was  narrated  to  him  by  Jolas  (Guido  Novello)  Are  all 
these  points  merely  artifices  ?  According  to  the  early  writer  of 
the  glosses  in  the  MS.  Laurent.,  Dante  did  not  send  his  reply 
for  a  year ;  his  son  discovered  it  after  his  death,  and  sent  it  on 
(so  that  the  correspondence  would  have  taken  place  in  1^20 

i^'^'h  ^?>'\?'''''^^u  l!"^^  ^^^  ^^P^y  '^'^s  "ot  written  till  after  his 
death  .?-P.  Meyer  ("  Romania,"  xi.  616)  conjectures  that  all  the 
four  poems  might  be  spurious  ;    see   on  this   point   Carducci 

"  Stud  1,''  253  //^/6'.  ^  v-aiuucci, 

Page  287.     Giov.  Villani  narrates  that  Dante  died  on  his  re 
turn  from  an  embassy  to  Venice,  and  Fil.  Villani  describes  in 
greater  detail   how   he   became   ill   on   the  journey      But   V 
Imbriani  denied  the  truth  of  these  accounts  ("  Prooue-n  "  xiii  ' 
2-,  191)  ;  so,  too,  Scheffer-Boichorst,  I.e.,  p.  yl  so  '  ' 

Page  287.  On  Dante's  tomb  and  the  history  of  his  remains; 
see  Witte,  "  Dantef.  "  ii.  32  sqq.,  and  a  pub^cation  enS  ! 
•Sepulcrum  Dantis "  (Alia  Liberia  Dante  in  Firenze  188?)' 
Here  too,  will  be  found  particulars  concerning  the  nego'tiations 
for  the  transfer  of  the  remains  to  Florence.  As  early  as  the 
year  15 19  when  Leo  X.  wished  to  do  what  his  countrymen 
desired,  the  coffin  was  found  empty.  Not  till  1865  were  the 
remains  (if  they  are  the  remains)  discovered  again  in  a  wooden 
chest  in  the  church  wall. 

Page  289     Wegele,  p.  389  (and  already  in  the  ist  ed.,  lena 
i«56,  p.  106  sq.\  thought  that  the  second  stanza  of  "  Donne 
che  avete,"  containing  the  allusion  to  the  mystic  journey   was 
inserted  at  a  later  period  ;  so,  too,  Todeschini,  i.  276  sqg     The 
chief  reason  in  favour  of  this  assumption  was  refuted  by  D'An 
cona,  "Vita  Nuova,"  p.  1^2  sqq.,  although  the  second  part  of  his 
interpretation  will   scarcely  be  accepted   (cf.    "  Literaturbl    f 
germ^  u.  rom   Phil.,"  1884,  P-  152).     The  stanza  is  contained  in 
a  MS.   dated   1292  (cf.   Carducci,   "  Intomo  ad  alcune  rime" 
p.  19) ;  but  unfortunately  the  verses  referring  to  Hell  are  miss- 
ing here.     That  the  stanza  was  composed  before  the  death  of 
Beatrice  appears  to  be  proved  also  by  the  manner  in  which 
A  A     ^^^P^^^^Jl?  ^^^e^s  to  it   in   the  poem  of  consolation  he 
addressed  to  Dante  ("Awegna  ch'  i'  non  aggia  piu")— "Che 
Dio  nostro  signore  Voile  di  lei,  come  avea  1'  angel  detto,  Fare 

Page  289.  The  fact  that  the  vision  at  the  close  of  the  "  Vita 
Nuova  '  IS  not  yet,  in  all  its  details,  that  of  the  "Commedia," 
but  only  IS  germ,  was  admirably  stated  by  Fornaciari,  "  Studi 


I 


i 


400      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Page  290.  "  II  Comento  di  Giov.  Boccacci  sopra  la  Corn- 
media  preceduto  dalla  Vita  di  Dante,"  ed.  by  G.  Milanesi, 
Firenze,  1863.  *  "  La  vita  di  Dante  scritta  da  Giov.  Boccaccio. 
Teste  critico,"  etc.,  ed.  by  Francesco  Macri-Leone,  Firenze, 
1888.  *— Witte  thought  that  the  papers  found  at  Florence 
might  have  been  canzoni  of  Dante's  (see  "  Dantef ,"  i.  481  ;  ii. 
52).— Scheffer-Boichorst,  I.e.,  p.  246  sqq.,  considers  the  Latin 
verses,  together  with  Frate  Ilario's  letter,  genuine.  In  the 
shorter  version  of  Boccaccio's  "  Vita  di  Dante"  the  third  verse 

is  complete.  .  ^^     u  r^ 

Page  291.  For  references  by  other  writers  to  the  Corn- 
media"  during  Dante's  lifetime,  see  Witte,  "Dantef,"  i.  137. 
It  is  true  that  the  passage  in  Cecco  d'Ascoli  is  probably  of 
later  date  (as  Foscolo  remarked,  "  Discorso,"  S  170),  since  the 
"  Acerba  "  was  written  about  the  year  1 326,  and  Cino's  sonnet 
is  certainly  spurious  (cf.  Bartoli,  "Stor.  lett.,"  iv.  56,  note  136). 
But  Giovanni  del  Virgilio,  when  he  wrote  (i.  5)  "Astripetis 
Lethen,"  must  have  known  the  part  played  by  Lethe  m  Dante's 
Terrestrial  Paradise,  and  must,  therefore,  have  had  some 
acquaintance  with  the  final  cantos  of  the  "  Purgatorio "  (cf 
Witte,  ib.,  p.  139).  It  is  true,  however,  that  several  fragments 
might  have  been  known  among  friends,  and  even  among  the 
general  public,  without  the  whole  of  the  first  two  cantiche  having 
been  published.  Foscolo  ("  Discorso,"  i^  30  sqq.)  endeavoured, 
with  much  zest,  to  prove  that  Dante  could  not  publish  the  work, 
or  even  any  large  portion  of  it,  owing  to  the  enormous  dangers 
he  would  have  incurred  by  reason  of  his  attacks  on  the  mightiest 
in  the  land,  and  that  he  was  therefore  biding  his  time.  Only  it 
is  not  clear  how  his  sons  should,  immediately  after  his  death, 
have  had  more  courage  or  been  less  threatened,  when  they  pub- 
lished the  poem.  What  Foscolo  says  on  this  point  in  §  ib^sqq., 
and  especially  in  §  180,  is,  after  all,  very  artificial  and  unclear; 
the  same  criticism  applies  to  Del  Lungo's  remarks,  "  Dino  Com- 
pagni,"  i.  694  sq.  Jacopo  di  Dante  even  lived  in  Florence,  at  a 
subsequent  period,  and  what  was  done  to  him  on  account  of  the 
"Commedia"?  Dante,  fiercely  persuaded  as  he  was  of  the 
sacredness  of  his  mission,  might  think  that  he  was  enjoying 
some  higher  protection,  and  would  therefore  not  shrink  from 
any  danger  he  was  incurring  for  the  good  cause.— A  valuable 
testimony  for  the  diffusion  of  the  "Commedia,"  during  the 
author's  lifetime,  would  be  that  of  Francesco  da  Barberino,  if, 
indeed,  Thomas  be  correct  in  his  view  (p.  68  of  his  book,  quoted 
above),  that  the  commentary  to  the  "  Documenti  d'  amore  "  was 
completed  before  1318.  There  we  read  (fol.  63'',  p.  192  m 
Thomas)  :  "  Hunc  Dante  Arigherii  in  quodam  suo  opere,  quod 
dicitur  Comedia  et  de  infernalibus  inter  cetera  multa  tractat, 
comendat  protinus  ut  magistrum,  etcerte  si  quis  illud  opus  bene 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  NOTES     4OI 

conspiciat,  videre  poterit  ipsum  Dantem  super  ipsum  Virgilium 
vel  longo  tempore  studuisse  vel  in  parvo  tempore  plurimum 
profecisse."    These  words  would,  indeed,  seem  to  prove  not 
alone  acquaintance  with  certain  passages,  but  the  publication 
of  a  large  portion  of  the  work.     However,  I  think  that  we  must 
rather  conclude  from  this  passage  that,  contrary  to  Thomas's 
opinion,  Francesco  was  still  at  work  on  his  Commentary  in 
1 32 1  (see  above,  the  note  to  p.  196).— According  to  a  note  that 
appears  in  some  MSS.,  the  first  complete  copy  of  the  "  Com- 
media"  was    sent    on   April    ist,    1322,   by  the    son,  Jacopo 
Alighieri,  to  Guido  da   Polenta  (see   Carducci,  "  Studi   lett.," 
p.  291  ;  and  C.  Ricci,  in  the  "  Studi  e  polemiche  dantesche," 
by  O.  Guerrini  and  C.   Ricci,  Bologna,   1880,  p.   121  sqq.). — 
Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  fix  the  date  of  the  single 
cantiche  ;  but  the  arguments  are  always  inadequate,  if  only  for 
the  reason  that  Dante,  in  the  case  of  the  historical  references, 
may  have  altered  and  added  many  details  at  a  later  date,  in  the 
way  that  Petrarch  and  Boccaccio  are  known  to  have  done  in 
their  works.     This  was  Foscolo's  opinion,  too  (§  20  and  else- 
where). 

Page  292.  The  division  of  his  explanations  that  Dante  gives 
in  the  letter  to  Can  Grande,  frequently  occurs  in  works  of  the 
scholastic  period  (cf,  P.  Meyer,  "  Romania,"  viii.  327,  and 
Scheffer-Boichorst,  /.^.,  p.  145). 

Page  292.  Dante  means  that  tragedy  is  written  in  Latin, 
comedy  in  Italian  ;  he  has  not  actually  low  modes  of  expression 
in  mind.  These  may  occur  in  several  passages  of  the  "In- 
ferno," but  never  in  that  portion  which  he  is  specially  treating, 
the  "Paradiso,"  the  Cantica  sublime.  The  meaning  of  the 
words  comedy  and  tragedy  differed  considerably  in  those  days 
from  the  ancient  and  modern  use  :  the  drama  did  not  come 
into  question  at  all.  Dante's  was  the  universal  definition  at 
that  time  ;  he  took  it  from  Giov.  Balbi's  "  Catholicon  "  (see  the 
passage  in  Giuliani,  "Op.  lat.,"  ii.  193).  A  poem  on  Thomas  k 
Becket  (in  Du  Meril,  "Poes.  pop.  du  moyen  age,"  Paris,  1847, 
p.  72>)  has  the  verses  : 

Sequor  morem  comici,  scio  vos  hunc  scire, 
Primum  Vae  et  tristia,  post  Evax  !  et  lyrae. 

See,  too,  the  passages  on  the  species  of  style  quoted  above  in 
the  note  to  p.  258,  especially  Johannes  Anglicus'  definition  (in 
Rockinger,  p.  503),  and  the  curious  example  of  a  tragedy  he 
gives.  Dante  calls  Virgil's  "^neis"  a  Tragedta  ("  Inf ,"  xx. 
113);  to  his  own  book  he  only  gave  the  title  Comedia,  or  rather 
Comedia,  to  judge  from  "  Inf.,"  xvi.  128,  and  xxi.  2.  In  the  same 
way,  Antonio  da  Tempo,  too,  says  (p.  147):  "proprius  potuit 
appellari  tragedia,  licet  ipse  librum  suum  appelaverit  comediam ;" 
I-  D  D 


\ 


402      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

and  for  comedia  see  Giov.  Quirini,  in  the  "Arch.  Stor.  per 
Trieste,"  etc.  i.  147.  The  divina  was  not  added  till  the  sixteenth 
century,  at  the  time  when  divino  was  the  typical  epithet  for 
perfection  among  men  of  letters  ;  so  that  it  scarcely  refers  to 
the  subject-matter.  It  occurs  for  the  first  time  in  the  edition  of 
1 5 13.  However,  according  to  Giuliani  ("Op.  lat.,"  ii.  203)  it  is 
contained  already  in  very  early  MSS.  of  Boccaccio's  "Vita  di 
Dante."     Is  that  correct  ? 

Page  292.  The  authenticity  of  the  letter  ta  Can  Grande, 
which  used  to  be  frequently  doubted,  has  now  been  definitely 
proved  by  Giuliani,  "Op.  lat.,"  ii.  170  sqq.  (where  will  be  found, 
too,  the  bibliography  of  the  dispute,  p.  zZ'j  sqq,)  and  by  Scheffer- 
Boichorst,  "  Aus  Dante's  Verb.,"  p.  141  sqq. 

Page  293.  "  Itinerarium  mentis  in  Deum"  and  "Diaeta 
Salutis  "  are  the  titles  of  two  of  S.  Bonaventura's  works  ;  the 
latter  describes  the  nine  days'  journey  of  the  way  of  salvation, 
and  closes  with  a  description  (very  abstract,  it  is  true,)  of  the 
torments  of  Hell  and  the  joys  of  Paradise.  On  the  theologians 
as  Dante's  sources  and  models,  see  the  very  (somewhat  too) 
diffuse  remarks  of  Lubin,  "Commedia  di  Dante,"  p.  210,  sqq.  ; 
they  contain  good  things,  but  also  a  great  deal  of  exaggera- 
tion. 

Page  294.  On  the  vision  of  Lazarus,  see  Salimbene,  p.  124  ; 
he  says  that  he  asked  for  the  book  in  Marseilles,  where  Lazarus 
was  said  to  have  been  bishop,  and  that  he  was  told  it  had  been 
lost  through  carelessness. 

Page  294.  For  the  bibliography  of  the  visions  of  the  other 
world,  see  Ozanam,  "  Dante  et  la  philosophic  catholique,"  pp. 
324-424,  and  especially  D'Ancona's  admirable  treatise,  "  I  pre- 
cursori  di  Dante,"  Firenze,  1874.  C.  Fritsche,  "  Die  lateinischen 
Visionen  des  Mittelalters  bis  zur  Mitte  des  12.  Jahrh.,"  in  VoU- 
moller's  "  Romanische  Forschungen,"  ii.  247  sqq.^  *  concluded 
in  vol.  iii.,  pp.  337-369.  *  A  convenient  collection  is  P.  Villari's 
"Antiche  leggende  e  tradizioni  che  illustrano  la  Divina  Com- 
media," Pisa,  1865.  "  Visio  Tungdali"  (in  Latin  and  Old  German), 
ed.  by  Albr.  Wagner,  Erlangen,  1882.  H.  Brandes,  "Visio 
S.  Pauli,  ein  Beitrag  zur  Visionsliteratur,"  Halle,  1885.  The 
vision  of  Frate  Alberico  is  contained  in  Fr.  Cancellieri's  "  Osser- 
vazioni  intorno  alia  questione  .  .  .  sopra  I'originalitil  della  Div. 
Com.,"  Roma,  1814,  p.  131,  sqq.^  and  in  the  edition  of  the  "Div. 
Commedia,"  Padua,  1822,  vol.  v.  287  sqq. 

Page  296.  How  Dante  transformed  Virgil's  figure  from  the 
conception  prevailing  at  the  time  was  shown,  in  an  extremely 
brilliant  manner,  by  Comparetti,  "  Virgilio  nel  medio  evo,"  i.  268 
sqq.^  and  282  sqq. 

Page  298.  The  interpretation  of  the  three  beasts  is  that  given 
by  the  old  commentators ;  if  we  depart  from  it,  we  lose  every 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND   CRITICAL   NOTES      403 

hold.  G.  Casella's  explanation  in  his  "  Canto  a  Dante  Alighieri, 
con  un  discorso  intorno  alia  forma  allegorica"  (otherwise  a  very 
interesting  treatise),  I  consider  erroneous. 

Page  298.  It  was  undoubtedly  Dante's  intention  that  the 
outward  torment  should  correspond  with  the  inner  condition  of 
sin ;  however,  he  did  not  succeed  in  making  this  clear  everywhere 
in  detail.  Scartazzini's  paper,  "  Congruenz  der  Sunder  und 
Strafen  in  Dante's  Holle"  ("  Dantejahrb.,  iv.  273  sqq.)  contains 
much  that  is  artificial  and  sophistical  (see  on  it  Witte,  "  Dantef.," 
ii.  304). 

Page  500.  On  the  unity  of  the  moral  and  political  scope  of 
the  "  Commedia,"  see  especially  De  Sanctis,  "  Stor.  lett,"  i.  152 
sq.,  and  Giuliani,  "  Op.  lat.,"  ii.  212  sq.  Here,  too  (p.  195  sqq.\ 
the  principal  allegory  of  the  "Commedia"  is  explained  in  a 
simple  and  convincing  manner,  according  to  Dante's  own 
words. 

Page  300.  For  the  innumerable  interpretations  of  the  Veltro^ 
see  Scartazzini,  "La  Divina  Commedia  di  Dante  Alighieri, 
rividuta  nel  testo  e  commentata,"  ii.,  Leipzig,  1875,  P-  801  sqq. 
The  early  commentators  understood  it  as  a  general  prophecy  ; 
later,  definite  persons  were  thought  of  (Can  Grande,  Uguccione, 
etc.),  none  of  whom  are  suitable.  I  have  followed  Fornaciari, 
"  Studi,"  p.  26  sqq.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  three  beasts, 
too,  have  a  special  political  meaning,  as  Foscolo,  Fraticelli, 
Casella  and  so  many  others  have  held  :  for  Dante  does  not  dis- 
tinguish between  morals  and  politics  ;  the  political  Messiah  puts 
a  stop  to  vice.  In  any  case  it  does  not  fit  in  well  to  identify 
them  with  Florence,  France,  and  the  Holy  See,  as  is  usually 
done.  This  was  shown  by  Witte;  see,  too,  especially  Wegele 
p.  437  sqq-  ' 

Page  302.  How,  in  the  "Commedia,"  the  literal  sense  ac- 
quires its  independence,  was  shown  by  De  Sanctis  ("  Stor.  lett.," 
i.  168  sq.)  in  his  brilliant  manner. 

Page  303.  Vaccheri  and  Bertacchi,  "La  Visione  di  Dante 
Allighien  considerata  nello  spazio  e  nel  tempo,"  Torino,  1881, 
endeavoured  to  prove,  with  much  learning,  that  the  ancient  con- 
ception of  Dante's  Hell,  as  being  in  the  shape  of  a  funnel,  is  not 
only  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nature,  but  to  the  words  of  the  poet 
as  well.  They  identify  the  hill  at  the  beginning  of  the  "  Inferno  " 
with  the  Mount  of  Purgatory,  and  therefore  place  the  entrance 
to  Hell  by  the  side  of  the  latter  in  the  other  hemisphere.  From 
here  the  abyss  is  supposed  to  descend  into  the  earth,  irregular 
in  shape,  first  in  the  form  of  an  obtuse  cone,  then  in  concentric 
rmgs  of  greater  or  lesser  width,  partly  entering  our  hemisphere, 
and  then,  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  gravity,  returning  to 
the  centre,  whence  a  narrow,  spiral  path  leads  to  the  surface 
of  the  other  hemisphere.     They  endeavour  to  prove   the  ap- 


f 


i. 


404      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

proximate  correctness  of  the  plan  of  Hell  they  have  designed  by 
means  of  the  calculation  of  time,  too,  by  showing  that  Dante 
describes  the  position  of  the  sun  each  time  from  the  point  at 
which  he  happens  to  be  standing  within  the  earth.  But  may  we 
credit  Dante  with  all  this  knowledge,  with  all  these  delicate 
calculations,  which  no  one  has  understood  for  six  hundred  years, 
and  which  can  scarcely  be  followed  even  now?  Besides,  would 
Dante,  who  instructs  so  frequently  and  who  is  so  fond  of  doing 
it,  have  left  all  this  to  be  solved  by  his  readers?  Would  he 
not  have  given  clearer  explanations  ?  When  Virgil  tells  Dante, 
at  the  close  of  the  "  Inferno,"  that  they  have  now  reached  the 
other  hemisphere,  would  he  not  have  expressed  himself 
differently,  if  he  meant  to  say  that  they  were  returning  to  it, 
after  having  left  it  for  a  short  while  ?  And  he  instructs  Dante 
with  the  words  :  "  Qui  ^  da  man,  quando  di  Ik  ^  sera  "  ("  Inf." 
xxxiv.  ii8)  ;  he  could  not  have  said  this  as  something  new,  if 
they  were  coming  from  this  hemisphere.  Again,  he  says  that 
the  mass  of  earth  forming  the  Mount  of  Purgatory  had  left  the 
place  empty  qua^  fleeing  from  Lucifer.  What  is  it  that  has 
been  left  empty?  According  to  V.  and  B.— Hell  ;  but  it  can 
also  be  the  passage  through  which  the  poets  ascend  upwards  : 

Luogo  e  laggiu  da  Belzebii  remoto 
Tanto,  quanto  la  tomba  si  distende. 

remoto  is  equivalent  to— "si  distende  atanta  lontananza  da  lui." 
But  Dante  could  not  have  used  this  expression,  if  this  passage 
had  been  parallel  with  the  abyss  of  Hell  ;  he  would  have  said  : 
the  cavity  leads  back  again  as  far  as  the  abyss  of  Hell  leads 
down.  Besides,  according  to  V.  and  B.,  the  length  of  the 
passage  and  of  the  cavity  would  not  be  in  any  way  equal,  as  the 
former  begins  at  the  centre,  while  the  latter  passes  beyond  it, 
and  returns  to  it  with  the  pozzo. — When  Dante  speaks  of  the 
fondo  della  trista  conca  ("Inf.,"  ix.  i6),  he  probably  wishes  to 
indicate  the  lower  Hell  in  general,  not  the  bottom  of  a  blunted 
funnel,  ending  with  the  5th  circle,  as  V.  and  B.  think  ;  for  he 
has  already  left  the  5th  circle— in  other  words,  that  funnel.— 
The  identification  of  the  dilettoso  monte  with  the  Mount  of  Pur- 
gatory must  be  decidedly  rejected  :  for,  apart  from  the  fact  that 
the  word  colle  does  not  fit  in  with  such  colossal  height  (cf. 
"  Giorn.  stor.  d.  lett.  ital.,"  ii.  431),  the  dilettoso  colle  is  the 
happiness  he  would  attain,  not  the  purification  indicated  by 
Purgatory — the  former  being,  as  it  were,  the  symbol  of  happi- 
ness, as  imagined  and  striven  after  by  man,  and  distinguished 
from  the  true  happiness  of  the  Earthly  Paradise.  Besides,  when 
Dante  reaches  the  Mountof  Purification,  he  does  not  show  him- 
self to  be  in  any  way  acquainted  with  it,  as  he  would  be  if  he 
had  seen  it  once  before.     Again,  what  meaning  would  there  be 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND   CRITICAL   NOTES      405 

in  the  beasts  frightening  him  away  from  Purgatory?  He  does 
not  see  the  wood  again,  either,  and  this  represents  the  sinful 
life  of  men  on  earth,  and  must  therefore  be  among  men,  in  our 
hemisphere.-If  the  funnel  of  Hell  is  impossible  according  to 
natural  laws,  did  Dante  realise  that  it  is  impossible  ?  Had  he 
calculated  how  long  this  funnel  would  have  to  be  ?  Note,  too, 
that  Boccaccio  ("  Comento,"  vol.  i.,  p.  99)  imagined  the  "  In- 
ferno to  be  a  cor7io  (funnel),  with  a  spiral  path,  and,  by  the 
side  of  this  descending  road,  partly  ^«2/^r«^j^ -that  is  to  say, 
the  circles  extending  far  into  the  hollow  rocky  wall,  thus  allow- 
ing room  for  lake  and  marsh  and  wood,  and  for  the  vasta 
cajnpagna  of  the  arch  heretics  ;  where,  too,  it  was  possible  for 
the  stench  not  to  ascend  upwards,  owing  to  the  rocky  wall  that 
closed  over  it.  The  deeper  meaning  of  the  poem  often  escaped 
the  early  commentators.  But  in  the  case  of  these  external 
details  Dante  must  have  reckoned  on  the  intelligence  of  his  con- 
temporaries ;  for  whom  else  did  he  write  ?  And  that  Hell  is 
beneath  the  surface  of  our  hemisphere  is  the  opinion  of  the 
oldest  interpreters.  Dante's  son,  Jacopo,  too,  says  in  the 
Dottrmale"  (cap.  57)  : 

Figurati  1' inferno 
Con  atto  sempiterno 
Sotto  la  terra  stabile 
Delia  quarta  abitabile 
Uno  scendere  addentro 
Cerchiato  infino  al  centre  .  .  . 
Digradando  I'ampiezza 
Dal  sommo  alia  bassezza. 

And  of  Purgatory  he  says  (cap.  58)  that  it  is  : 

Opposito  alle  spalle 
Della  contatta  valle. 

Page  305.  Dante's  Purgatory  rises  on  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere, south  of  the  equator,  being  antipodal  to  Jerusalem.  On 
the  motives  that  induced  the  poet  to  place  the  Mountain,  with 
the  Earthly  Paradise,  in  this  unknown  region  of  the  earth, 
which  gave  free  play  to  the  imagination,  see  the  brilliant  re- 
marks of  Ozanam,  "  Dante  et  la  phil.  cath.,"  p.  142,  and  For- 
naciari,  "Studi  su  Dante,"  p.  106.  The  legends  mostly  place 
the  Purgatory  inside  the  earth,  like  Hell ;  but  in  the  vision  of 
Wettin  It  IS  in  the  open  air,  and,  though  not  a  mountain  itself,  it 
comprises  mountains,  that  reach  the  sky. 

Page  304.  For  the  fact  that  the  first  canto  does  not  really 
belong  to  the  "  Inferno,"  and  is  the  prologue  to  the  whole,  see 
Casella,  /.^.,  p.  24.  On  the  numeric  symbolism  in  the  "  Com- 
media  '  see  Carducci,  in  D'Ancona's  "Vita  Nuova,"  p.  209. 
I  he  same  (p.  56)  discusses  the  derivation  of  the  terzma  from 


(? 


i 


406      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

the  sef-veniese.  Its  derivation  from  the  sior^ielh  of  popular 
poetry,  which  H.  Schuchardt  endeavoured  to  demonstrate 
("  Ritornell  u.  Terzine,"  Halle,  1875),  is  improbable  (cf.  G.  l^aris, 

"Romania,"  iv.  491).  ,  .     ^1,  i     . 

Page  310.  Why  does  only  Francesca  speak  ?  1  he  explana- 
tion i  have  adopted  is  Foscolo's  ("  Discorso,"  §  I54)-  . 

Page  312.  There  has  been  considerable  dispute  as  to  who  this 
mysterious  Divine  messenger  really  is  (see,  in  the  last  instance, 
Michelan^eli,  in  the  "  Propugn.,"  xvi.  i«,  p.  ^^^sqq.).  1  still 
continue  t^o  regard  him  as  an  angel,  this  being  the  view  likewise 
of  the  early  commentators.  The  reasons  against  this,  advanced 
by  the  Duca  di  Sermoneta,  appear  to  me  to  have  been  very  well 
refuted  by  Br.  Fiianchi.  . 

Page  331.  The  writings  of  Francesco  de  Sanctis  on  Uante  are 
(in  addition  to  the  section  devoted  to  him  in  the  "  Storia  della 
lett.  ital,"  i.  148-261)  :  '^  Dell'  argomento  della  Divina  Corn- 
media"  (in  the  "Saggi  critici,"  3rd  ed.,  Napoli,  1874,  p-  363)  ; 
"  Carattere  di  Dante  e  la  sua  Utopia  "  (/A,  p.  378) ;  Pier  della 
Vigna"  {ib.,  p.  393);  "La  Divina  Commedia/' versione  di  F. 
Lamennais  (/^.,  p.  410)  ;  "  Francesca  da  Rimini  (in  the 
*'Nuovi  saggi  critici,"  Napoli,  1872,  p.  i)  ;  H  Farinata  [ib., 
p.  21)  ;  "  L'Ugolino"  {ib.,  p.  51).  ^  ,    ,,      v      •  r 

Page  332.  The  commentary  of  Graziolo  de  Bambagioli, 
which  is  said  to  have  been  written  three  years  after  Dante  s 
death,  deals  only  with  the  "  Inferno."  It  is  not  yet  edited,  and 
is  contained  in  a  MS.  at  Seville,  which  P.  Ewald  had  copied, 
and  which  Witte  intended  publishing  when  he  died.  1  here  is 
a  fragment  of  it  at  Siena,  too  (cf.  "  Giorn.  d.  lett.  ital.,  n.  454)- 
*  This  commentary  has  now  been  published:  "  H  commento 
air  Inferno  di  Graziolo  de'  Bambaglioli,"  ed.  by  Antonio  Fiam- 
mazzo,  Udine,  1892.  *  The  "Comento  alia  cantica  dell  In- 
ferno d'autore  anonimo,"  published  by  Lord  Vernon,  Firenze, 
1848  is  not  merely  a  literal  translation  of  Graziolo's  commen- 
tary, according  to  L.  Rocca,  in  the  "  Propugn.,"  xix.,  V\  p.  8. 
See  on  this  point  likewise  K.  Hegel,  "  Ueber  den  historischen 
Wert  der  iiltesten  Dante- Commentare,"  Leipzig,  1878,  p.  20. 
In  this  treatise  will  be  found  general  particulars  concerning  the 
commentaries  on  the  "  Commedia."  *  Since  the  appearance  ot 
Hegel's  treatise  the  following  early  commentaries  have  been  pub- 
lished (in  addition  to  that  of  Graziolo,  quoted  above) :  La  Coin- 
media  di  Dante  Alighieri  col  comento  inedito  di  S.  Talice  da 
Ricaldone.  Pubblicato  per  cura  di  V.  Promis  e  di  C.  Negroni, 
Torino,  1886;  ed.  2,  1888.— "  Benvenuti  de  Rambaldis  de  Imoia 
Comentum  super  Dantis  Aldigherii  Comoediam,  nunc  primum 
intcgre  in  lucem  editum,  sumptibus  G.  W.  Vernon,  curante  J. 
Ph.  Lacaita,"  5  vols.,  Florence,  1887.— "  Fratris  Johannis  de 
Serravalle  translatio  et  comentum  totius  libri  Dantis  Aldigheni 


\ 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  AND   CRITICAL   NOTES      407 

cum  textu  Italico  Fratris  Bartholomaei  a  Colle.  Nunc  primum 
edita,"  Prati,  1891.  *— The  series  of  Dante  interpreters  in  Flor- 
ence down  to  Landino  is  given  by  A.  Wesselofsky,  "  II  Paradiso 
degli  Alberti,"  Bologna,  1867,  vol.  i.,  parte  ii.,  p.  215.  *  Luigi 
Rocca,  "  Di  alcuni  commenti  della  Divina  Commedia  composti 
nei  primi  venti  anni  dopo  la  morte  di  Dante,"  Firenze,  1891. — 
Ludwig  Volkmann,  "Iconografia  Dantesca,"  Leipzig,  1897; 
English  translation,  London,  1899.  *— Finally,  some  of  the 
more  recent  of  the  numerous  editions  of  the  "  Commedia"  may 
be  noted :  Witte's  Mition  de  luxe,  "  La  Divina  Commedia  di 
Dante  Alighieri,  ricorretta  sopra  quattro  dei  piu  autorevoli  testi 
a  penna,"  Berlino,  1862,  with  an  admirable  introduction  on  the 
history  of  the  text.  After  the  large  edition,  Witte  in  the  same 
year  published  a  small  one,  *carelessly  reprinted  in  1892.*  That 
of  Brunone  Bianchi, "  La  Commedia  di  Dante  AHghieri,"  with  an 
intelligent  commentary;  ed.  6,  Firenze,  1863,  since  which  time 
others  have  appeared.  That  of  Fraticelli :  "  La  Divina  Com- 
media di  Dante  Alighieri,"  Firenze,  1871.  That  of  Scartazzini, 
Leipzig,  vol.  i.,  1874,  ii.,  1875,  iii.,  1882;  with  a  very  copious 
commentary  (especially  for  the  last  two  vols. ;  *  in  the  second 
edition,  1900,  the  "Inferno"  volume  has  been  levelled  up  to 
the  others  *) ;  very  useful  because  it  brings  together  scattered 
material,  but  by  no  means  so  perfect  as  the  editor  thinks. 
*  An  edizione  7n inore  a.ppea.red  at  Milan  in  1893  5  ed.  3,  1899.  * 
Giuliani's  edition :  "  La  Commedia  di  Dante  Allighieri,  raffer- 
mata  nel  testo  giusta  la  ragione  e  Parte  dell'autore"  (text  only), 
Firenze,  1880.  Lubin's  edition,  which  has  been  quoted  several 
times,  with  an  enormous  introduction  that  overpowers  the 
reader  with  its  abstruse  and  diffuse  learning,  before  he  reaches 
the  text.  The  commentary  is  very  defective  in  the  historical 
parts.  *  "La  Divina  Commedia,  con  commento  secondo  la 
scolastica,"  ed.  by  G.  Berthier,  Friburgo,  Svizzera,  1892,  etc."  La 
Divina  Commedia,"  con  commento  del  Prof.  G.  Poletto,  3  vols., 
Roma,    1894.      "La  Divina  Commedia,"  con  il  commento  di 


tesco"  .  .  .  compilato  dal  Prof.  D.  G.  Poletto,  7  vols.,  Siena, 
1885-1887.  Scartazzini,  "  Enciclopedia  Dantesca,"  Milano, 
1896-1899.  Paget  Toynbee,  "A  Dictionary  of  Proper  Names 
and  Notable  Matters  in  the  Works  of  Dante,"  Oxford,  1898.  * 


ADDITIONS   AND   CORRECTIONS 

Page  23,  line  ^^for  "  Perapetician  "  read  "  Peripatetic  ". 

Page  25,  line  iS->  for  "  emnity  "  read  "  enmity  ". 

Page  43,  line  ig^for  "  Bologna  "  read  '*  Orleans  ". 

Page  53,  line  12  from  end,  strike  out  the  comma  at  end  of  line. 

Page  54,  line  6yfor  "  Gattilufio"  read  "  Gattilusio". 

Page  54,  line  11^  for  "  Ferrari"  read  "  Ferrarino". 

Page  58,  line  i^.for  '*  Italian  "  read  "  Sicilian  ". 

Page  75,  line  16,  between  "  Macconi "  and  "  while  "  insert  the  following: 
"  to  Lucca  Buonagiunta  Urbiciani  and  Dotto  Reali,  and  to  Pistoia 
Meo  Abbracciavacca ; ". 

Page  80,  line  15,  replace  this  line  by  the  following :  *'  Guittone's  thirty- 
fifth  canzone,  two  more  pieces  of  his,  and  others  by  Finfo  del  Buono, 
Monte  Andrea,  Chiaro  Davanzati  and  Ser  Alberto  da  Massa,  all  of 
whom  are  imitators  of  Guittone  in  this  respect.  He  and  his 
school ". 

Page  108,  line  3  from  end,  for  "  at  any  rate,  exactly  "  read  '*  at  any 
rate  exactly,". 

Page  116,  line  10  from  end,>r  "  Milo"and  '*  Bertha"  read''  Milon  et 
Berthe  ". 

Page  123,  line  3,/i?r  "  Pulei "  read  "  Pulci  ". 

Page  151,  line  13,  strike  out  the  comma  after  "  In  this  ". 

Page  200,  line  9  from  end,y^r  **  Ricciardi "  read  "  Riccardi ". 

Page  250,  line  12  from  end,  after  *'  Purgatorio"  insert  "  (ii.  112)". 


LIST   OF    NAMES 

Aginulf,  yj. 

Aimeric  de  Pegulhan,  51. 
Alberic  of  Monte  Cassino,  22,  24. 
Albertano  of  Brescia,  184. 
Albert  of  Asti,  34. 
Alberto  da  Massa,  408. 
Albert  of  Samaria,  34. 
Albert  Malaspina,  53. 
Alexander,  Abbot  of  Telese,  38. 
Alphanus,  22. 
Amatus  of  Salerno,  22. 
Andrea  da  Grosseto,  184. 
Anselm  of  Canterbury,  ^'^. 
Anselm  the  Peripatetic,  23. 
*'Aquilon  de  Bavi^re,"  122. 
Arnaut  Daniel,  79. 
Arrigo  Baldonasco,  84. 

Bacciarone  di  Messer  Baccone,  7;. 

"Ballad,"  90. 

Bandino  of  Arezzo,  75,  85,  86. 

Bartolommeo  Notajo^  78. 

Bartolommeo  Zorzi,  54. 

Barsegap^,  127. 

Beroardo  Notajo,  83. 

"  Berta  de  li  gran  pi^,"  116. 

Betto  Mettefuoco,  75. 

Boethius,  2. 

Bologna,  Poems  in  the  public  records  of,  105. 

Boncompagno,  yj,  45. 

Bondie  Dietaiuti,  94. 

Bonifacio  Calvi,  54. 

Bono  Giamboni,  181,  186. 

Bonodico  of  Lucca,  'jZ, 

Bonvesin  da  Riva,  130  sqq, 

"  Bovo  d'  Antona,"  120. 

Buonagiunta  Urbiciani,  ^Z,  408. 


I 


4IO      HISTORY   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Brunetto  Latini,  175  sqq.,  193  sqq. 

Cafaro,  39. 

"  Canzone,"  63. 

"  Canzoni  equivoche,"  80. 

"  Carte  d'  Arborea,"  46. 

Cassiodorus,  2. 

"Cato,"  182. 

Cecco  Angiolieri,  214  sqq. 

Cene  dalla  Chitarra,  212  sqq. 

Chiaro  Davanzati,  91,  93?  94*  4c*- 

"Chronicon  Novaliciense,"  11. 

Ciacco  deir  Anguillaia,  91. 

Cielo  dal  Camo,  72. 

Clone  Notajo,  83. 

Compagnetto  da  Prato,  96. 

"  Compassionevoli  Avvenimenti  di  Erasto,    169. 

Compiuta  Donzella,  94. 

Constantinus  Afer,  22. 

"  Conti  di  Antichi  Cavalieri,"  166. 

"  Cronichetta  Pisana  scritta  in  volgare,"  171. 


Dante,  220  sqq. ;  "  Vita  Nuova,"  233  sqq. ;  "  Convivio/'  236  sqq. ; 


media,"  289  sqq. 
Dante  da  Majano,  75,  77,  95- 
Dino  Compagni,  78. 
Dino  Frescobaldi,  208,  210. 
"Discordo,"  65. 
''Dodici  Conti  Morali,"  170. 
Don  Arrigo,  83. 
Donizo  of  Canossa,  26. 
Dotto  Reali,  89,  408. 
Durante,  "11  Fiore,"  192. 

Egidio  Romano,  186. 
Ennodius,  2,  5. 
"Entree  de  Spagne,"  in. 
Enzo,  58. 

Fabrizio  or  Fabruzzo  de'  Lambertazzi,  104. 

"Fatti  di  Cesare,"  170. 

Federigo  dell'  Ambra,  78. 

Ferrarino  da  Ferrara,  54. 

Finfo  del  Buono,  408. 

"  Fiore  di  Filosofi,"  183. 


LIST  OF   NAMES 

"  Fiore  di  Rettorica,"  181. 

Folcacchieri,  47,  75. 

Folgore  da  San  Gemignano,  212  sqq. 

Forese  Donati,  264. 

Francis  of  Assisi,  138. 

Francesco  da  Barberino,  196. 

Frederick  II.,  55  sqq. 

Fredi  of  Lucca,  84. 

Gaiferius,  22. 

Gallo  Pisano,  75. 

Gaucelm  Faidit,  51. 

Gaufredus  Malaterra,  38. 

Genoese  poems,  136. 

Geoffrey  of  Viterbo,  41. 

Gerard  of  Cremona,  36. 

Giacomino  of  Verona,  128  sqq. 

Giacomino  Pugliese,  67. 

Giacomo  da  Leona,  77. 

Gianni  Alfani,  208. 

Giovanni  dell'  Orto,  75. 

Giovanni  del  Virgilio,  286. 

Girolamo  Terramagino,  77. 

Goliards,  43. 

Gotto  of  Mantua,  108. 

Graziolo  de'  Bambagioli,  332. 

Gregory  the  Great,  4,  5. 

Guilelmus  Appulus,  26. 

Guido  Cavalcanti,  204  sqq. 

Guido  delle  Colonne,  58,  63,  169. 

Guido  Faba,  37. 

Guido  Ghisilieri,  104. 

Guido  Guinicelli,  75,  99  sqq. 

Guido  Orlandi,  89,  211. 

Guidotto  da  Bologna,  181. 

Guillem  de  la  Tor,  51. 

Guillem  Figueira,  52. 

Guitlone  of  Arezzo,  75,  77,  79,  85  sqq. 

Hatto  of  Vercelli,  8. 

"Hector,"  115. 

Henricus  Septimellensis,  41. 

Hilderic  of  Monte  Cassino,  8. 

Hugo  of  Bologna,  37. 

"  Huon  d'Auvergne,"  121. 

■ 

Ildebrandino  of  Padua,  108. 


411 


f 


412      HISTORY  OF   EARLY   ITALIAN    LITERATURE 

Inghilfredi,  79. 

"  Intelligenzia,"  199. 

Istefano  of  Messina,  58. 

Jacopo  Grillo,  54. 
Jacopo  della  Lana,  48,  332. 
Jacopo  da  Lentini,  58,  68. 
Jacopo  Mostacci,  76,  77. 
Jacopone  da  Todi,  144  sqq. 

"Karleto,"  116. 

"  Lais,"  65. 

"Lament  of  the  Paduan  lady,"  108. 

Landulf,  the  older  and  the  younger,  38. 

Lanfranc,  33. 

Lanfranco  Cigala,  54. 

Lapo  Gianni,  208. 

Lapo  (or  Lupo)  degli  Uberti,  208. 

"  Lauda,"  143,  147;  dramatic,  153. 

Laurentius  Vernensis,  28. 

Liutprand,  10. 

Loffo  (or  Noffo)  Bonaguidi,  208. 

Lotto  di  Ser  Dato,  75. 

*'  Love  Poem,"  written  circa  1075,  25. 

Luchetto  Gattilusio,  54. 

"  Macaire,"  116. 
Maestro  Francesco,  94. 
Maestro  Miglore,  94. 
Maestro  Rinuccino,  94. 
Magister  Moses,  26. 
Malespini,  171. 
Manfred  Lancia,  53. 
Marco  Polo,  1 10. 
Martino  da  Canale,  no. 
Matulino  of  Ferrara,  108. 
Mazzeo  Ricco,  58. 
Meo  Abbracciavacca,  80,  89,  408. 
Meo  or  Mino  Macconi,  75. 
Migliore  degli  Abati,  ^^. 
"Milon  et  Berthe,"  116. 
Monte  Andrea,  83,  89,  408. 
Morandus  of  Padua,  45. 

Niccolo  da  Casola,  121. 
Nicoletto  of  Turin,  54. 


LIST  OF   NAMES. 


413 


Nicholas  of  Verona,  1 1 5. 
"  Novellino,"  160  sqq. 
Odo  delle  Colonne,  96. 
"Ogier  the  Dane,"  116. 
Onesto  of  Bologna,  104. 
Orlanduccio  Orafo,  83. 
Otto  Morena,  38. 

Pace  Notajo,  ^Z. 

Pacifico,  139. 

Pacino  Angiolieri,  94. 

Paganino  of  Sarzana,  76. 

Palamidesse  Belindore,  83. 

Pandulphus  of  Padua,  22. 

"  Panegyric  on  the  Emperor  Berengar,"  o. 

Panuccio  dal  Bagno,  75. 

Paolo  Lanfranchi,  tj. 

Paolo  Zoppo,  75. 

Patecchio  of  Cremona,  134. 

"  Pater  Noster  "  of  Bologna,  125. 

Paulus  Diaconus,  5. 

Peire  de  la  Caravana,  52. 

Peire  Guillem  de  Luzerna,  52. 

Peire  Vidal,  50,  52. 

Perceval  Doria,  54. 

Peter  Uamian,  30  sqq. 

Peter  Lombardo,  36. 

PeterofEboli,  41. 

Peter  of  Pisa,  5. 

Pier  della  Vigna,  45,  56,  58. 

Pietro  dei  Faytinelli,  379. 

*|  Poem  on  the  capture  of  the  Emperor  Lewis  II.  "  10 

^^  Poem  on  the  conquest  of  the  Balearic  Isles  "  28 

^^  Poem  on  the  siege  of  Modena,"  11. 

"  Poem  on  the  subjugation  of  Como,"  26. 

Poem  on  the  victorious  expedition  of  the  Pisans  to  Africa  "  on 

Prise  de  Pampelune,"  in.  '    "^" 

Proverbia  de  natura  foeminarum,"  nq 
Pucciandone  Martelli,  75. 

Rafaele  Marmora,  122. 
Raimbaut  de  Vaqueiras,  51,  53. 
"  Rainardo  e  Lesengrino,"  120. 
Rambertino  Buvallello,  53. 
Ranieri  of  Palermo,  58. 
Ratherius  of  Verona,  8. 
Ricco,  yZ. 


(( 


(( 


(( 


414      HISTORY  OF  EARLY  ITALIAN   LITERATURE 

Richart  de  Barbezieu,  63. 

"  Ricordi  di  una  famiglia  senese, '  159. 

Rinaldo  d' Aquino,  58,  66,  69  70. 

Ristoro  of  Arezzo,  180. 

"  Ritmo  Cassinese,"  47- 

Romaldus,  Archbishop  of  Salerno,  38. 

"  Rosa  fresca  aulentissima,"  71. 

Rugerone  of  Palermo,  58. 

Rugieri  Apugliese,  58. 

Rugieri  d'Amici,  58. 

Rusticiano  of  Pisa,  1 10. 

Rustico  di  Filippo,  217. 

Salimbene  of  Parma,  1 72. 
Sanzanome,  39.  . 

Schiatta  di  Messer  Albizzo  PallaviUani,  83. 

"Serventese,"  81. 

"  Serventese  dei  Geremei  e  Lambertazzi,    106. 

"  Sestina,"  261. 

"  Seven  Wise  Masters,"  167. 

Simone  Doria,  54. 

Sire  Raoul,  38. 

Soffredi  del  Grazia,  184. 

'*  Songs  of  longing  or  farewell,"  68. 

"  Sonnet,"  64,  11  y  90- 

Sordello  of  Mantua,  54. 

"  Tavola  Rotonda,"  169. 

"  Tenzone  "  or  "  Contrasto,"  68,  77- 

"  Terzina,"  304. 

Tommaso  of  Faenza,  76. 

Uc  de  S.  Circ,  51. 
Ugolino  Buzzuola,  76. 
Uguccione  da  Lodi,  125,  126. 

Visions  of  the  other  world,  294. 
"  Volgarizzamento  di  Lucano,"  170. 


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Apophthegms,  Wisdom  of  the 
Ancients,  New  Atlantis,  Henry 
VII.,  Henry  VIII.,  Elizabeth, 
Henry  Prince  of  Wales,  History 
of  Great  Britain,  Julius  Caesar, 
and  Augustus  Caesar.  Edited  by 
J.  Devey,  M.A.     y.  6c/. 

— —  NovTim  Organum  and  Ad- 
vsuicement  of  Learning.  Edited 
by  J.  Devey,  M.A.     51. 

BALLADS  AND  SONGS  of  the 
Peasantry  of  England.  Edited 
oy  Robert  Bell.     31.  6rf. 

BASS'S  Lexicon  to  the  Greek 
Testament,    zs. 


BAX'S  Manual  of  the  History 
of  Philosophy,  for  the  use  ot 
Students.   By  E.  Belfort  Bax.    5j. 

BEAUMONT  and  FLETCHER, 
their  finest  Scenes,  Lyrics,  and 
other  Beauties,  selected  from  the 
whole  of  their  works,  and  edited 
by  Leigh  Hunt.     3^.  (id. 

BECHSTEIN'S  Cage  and 
Chamber  Birds,  their  Natural 
History,  Habits,  Food,  Diseases, 
and  Modes  of  Capture.  Translated, 
with  considerable  additions  on 
Structure,  Migration,  and  Eco- 
nomy, by  H.  G.  Adams.  Together 
with  Sweet  British  Warblers. 
With  43  coloured  Plates  and 
Woodcut  Illustrations.     51. 

BECKMANN  (J.)  History  of 
Inventions,  Discoveries,  and 
Origins.  4th  edition,  revised  by 
W.  Francis  and  J.  W.  Griffith. 
2  vols.     3^^.  6</.  each. 

BEDE'S  (Venerable)  Ecclesias- 
tical History  of  England.  To- 
gether with  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle.  Edited  by  J.  A. 
Giles,  D.C.L.     With  Map.     51. 

BELL  (Sir  Charles).  The  Ana- 
tomy and  Philosophy  of  Ex- 
pression, as  connected  with 
the  Fine  Arts.  By  Sir  Charles 
Bell,  K.H.     7th  edition,  revised. 

BERKELEY  (George),  Bishop 
of  Cloyne,  The  Works  of. 
Edited  by  George  Sampson.  With 
Biographical  Introduction  by  the 
Right  Hon.  A.  J.  Balfour,  M.P. 
3  vols.     5^.  each. 

BION.    See  Theocritus. 

BJORNSON'S  Ame  and  the 
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BLAIR'S  Chronological  Tables 
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BLAIR'S  Index  of  Dates.  Com- 
prehending the  principal  Facts  in 
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BLEEK,  Introduction  to  the 
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lated by  G.  H.  Venables,  under 
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Venables.     2  vols.     5^.  each. 

BOETHIUS'S  Consolation  of 
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English  Translation  on  opposite 
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Glossary,  by  Rev.  S.  Fox,  M.A. 

BOHN'S  Dictionary  of  Poetical 
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tion, &c.,  &c. 

BOND'S  A  Handy  Book  of  Rules 
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BONOMI'S  Nineveh  and  its 
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BOSWELL'S  Life  of  Johnson, 
with  the  Tour  in  the  Hebrides 
and  JOHNSONIANA.  Edited  by 
the  Rev.  A.  Napier,  M.A.  With 
Frontispiece  to  each  vol.  6  vols. 
3^.  6d.  each. 

BRAND'S  Popular  Antiquities 
of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ire- 
land. Arranged,  revised,  r,nd 
greatly  enlarged,  by  Sir  Henry 
Ellis,  K.H.,  F.R.S.,  &c.,  &c.  3 
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BREMER'S  (Frederika)  Works. 
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BRIDGWATER   TREATISES. 

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Elrby  on  the  History,  Habits, 
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i\ 


An  Alphabetical  List  of  Books 


Contained  in  Bohn's  Libraries. 


5 


Bridgwater  Treatises  continued, 

Kldd  on  the  Adaptation  of  Ex- 
ternal Natiire  to  the  Physical 
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Chalmers  on  the  Adaptation 
of  External  Nature  to  the 
Moral  and  Intellectual  Con- 
stitution of  Man.    5j. 

BEINK  (B.  ten).  Early  EngUsh 
Literature.  By  Bernhard  ten 
Brink.  Vol.1.  ToWyclif.  Trans- 
lated by  Horace  M.  Kennedy. 
3j.  6d. 

Vol.  II.  Wyclif,  Chaucer,  Ear- 
liest Drama,  Renaissance.  Trans- 
lated by  W.  Clarke  Robinson. 
Ph.D.     3J.  ed. 

Vol.  III.  From  the  Fourteenth 

Century  to  the  Death  of  Surrey. 
Edited  by  Dr.  Alois  Brandl. 
Trans,  by  L.  Dora  Schmitz. 
3J".  (>d. 

Five  Lectures  on  Shake- 
speare. Trans,  by  Julia  Franklin. 
3^ .  6d. 

BROWNE'S  (Sir  Thomas)  Works 
Edited  by  Simon  Wilkin.  3  vols. 
3J.  6d.  each. 

BUCHANAN'S  Dictionary  of 
Science  and  Technical  Terms 
used  in  Philosophy,  Literature, 
Professions,  Commerce,  Arts,  and 
Trades.    6s. 

BURKE'S  Works.  6  vols.  3^.  6d. 
each. 

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lanies. 

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Revolution  —  Letters  re- 
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tion —  Speech  on  Fox's 
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Burke's  Works  continued. 

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Old  Whigs— On  the  Na- 
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India,  and  Articles  of 
Charge  against  Warren 
Hastings. 

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Charge  against  Warren 
Hastings  —  Political  Let- 
ters on  the  American  War, 
on  a  Regicide  Peace,  to 
the  Empress  of  Russia. 

VI. — Miscellaneous  Speeches  — 
Letters  and  Fragments — 
Abridgments  of  English 
History,  &c.  With  a 
General  Index. 

Speeches  on  the  Impeach- 
ment of  Warren  Hastings ;  and 
Letters.  With  Index.  2  vols. 
31.  6d.  each. 


Life.    By  Sir  I.  Prior.    '^s.6d. 

each. 

BURNEY'S  Evelina.  By  Frances 
Burney  (Mme.  D'Arblay).  With 
an  Introduction  and  Notes  by 
A.  R.  Ellis.     3J.  6d. 

Cecilia.     With  an   Introduc- 


tion and  Notes  by  A.  R.  Ellis. 
2  vols.     is.  6d.  each. 

BURN  (R.)  Ancient  Rome  and 
its  Neighbourhood.  An  Illus- 
trated Handbook  to  the  Ruins  in 
the  City  and  the  Campagna,  for 
the  use  of  Travellers.  By  Robert 
Burn,  M.A.  With  numerous 
Illustrations,  Maps,  and  Plans. 
Ts.  6d. 

BURNS  (Robert),  Life  of.  By 
J.  G.  Lockhart,  D.C.L.  A 
new  and  enlarged  Edition.  Re- 
vised by  William  Scott  Douglas. 
7j.  6d. 


BURTON'S  (Robert)  Anatomy  of 
Melancholy.    Edited  by  the  Rev. 
A.   R.  Shilleto,  M.A.     With  In- 
troduction by  A.  H.  BuUen,  and 
full  Index.     3  vols.     3^-.  6d.  each. 

BURTON  (Sir  R.  F.)  Personal 
Narrative  of  a  Pilgrimage  to 
Al-Madinah  and  Meccah.  By 
Captain  Sir  Richard  F.  Burton, 
K.C.M.G.  With  an  Introduction 
by  Stanley  Lane- Poole,  and  all 
the  original  Illustrations.  2  vols. 
3J.  6d.  each. 

•«*  This  is  the  copyright  edi- 
tion, containing  the  author's  latest 
notes 

BUTLER'S  (Bishop)  Analogy  of 
Religion,  Natural  and  Revealed, 
to  the  Constitution  and  Course  of 
Nature;  together  with  two  Dis- 
sertations on  Personal  Identity  and 
on  the  Nature  of  Virtue,  and 
Fifteen  Sermons.     3J-.  6d. 

BUTLER'S  (Samuel)  Hudibras. 
With  Variorum  Notes,  a  Bio- 
graphy, Portrait,  and  28  Illus- 
trations.    5^. 

or,  further  Illustrated  with  60 

Outline  Portraits.  2  vols.  5^. 
each. 

CESAR.  Commentaries  on  the 
Gallic  and  Civil  Wars.  Trans- 
lated by  W.  A.  McDevitte,  B.A. 

CAMOENS'  Lusiad  ;  or,  the  Dis- 
covery of  India.  An  Epic  Poem. 
Translated  by  W.  J.  Mickle.  5th 
Edition,  revised  by  E.  R.  Hodges. 
M.C.P.     3^.  6d.  ^    * 

CARAFAS  (The)  of  Maddaloni. 

Naples  under  Spanish  Dominion. 

Translated  from   the   German  of 

Alfred  de  Reumont.     3^.  6d. 
CARLYLE'S    Sartor    Resartus 

With  75  Illustrations  by  Edmund 

J.  Sullivan.     51. 

CARPENTER'S     (Dr.     W.    B  ) 

Zoology.      Revised    Edition,   by 

W.  S.  Dallas,  F.L.S.     With  very 

numerous  Woodcuts.    Vol.  I.    6s. 

[  Vol.  11.  out  of  print. 


CARPENTER'S  Mechanical 
Philosophy,  Astronomy,  and 
Horology.    181  Woodcuts.     5^. 

Vegetable    Physiology  and 

Systematic  Botany.  Revised 
Edition,  by  E.  Lankester,  M.D., 
&c.  With  very  numerous  Wood- 
cuts.    6s. 


Animal  Physiology.   Revised 

Edition.      With  upwards  of  300 
Woodcuts.     6s, 

CARREL.  History  of  the 
Coimter  -  Revolution  in  Eng- 
land for  the  Re-establishment  of 
Popery  under  Charles  II.  and 
James  II.,  by  Armand  Carrel ; 
together  with  Fox's  History  of 
the  Reign  of  James  II.  and  Lord 
Lonsdale's  Memoir  of  the  Reign 
of  James  II.     3^.  dd. 

CASTLE  (E.)  Schools  and 
Masters  of  Fence,  from  the 
Middle  Ages  to  the  End  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century.  By  Egerton 
Castle,  M.A.,  F.S.A.  With  a 
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with  140  Reproductions  of  Old 
Engravings  and  6  Plates  of 
Swords,  showing  114  Examples. 
6s. 

CATTERMOLE'S  Evenings  at 
Haddon  HaU.  With  24  En- 
gravings on  Steel  from  designs  by 
Cattermole,  the  Letterpress  by  the 
Baroness  de  Carabella.     5^. 

CATULLUS,  Tibullus,  and  the 
Vigil  of  Venus.  A  Literal  Prose 
Translation.     5^. 

CELLINI  (Benvenuto).      Me- 

mohrs    of,  written   by    Himself: 

Translated  by  Thomas   Roscoe. 
ZS'  6d. 

CERVANTES'  Don  Quixote  de 
la  Mancha.      Motteux's  Trans 
lation  revised.     2  vols.     3^.  6d, 
each. 

Galatea.  A  Pastoral  Ro- 
mance. Translated  by  G.  W.  J. 
Gyll.     3j.  6d. 


An  Alphabetical  List  of  Books 


CERVANTES'  Exemplary 
Novels.  Translated  by  Walter 
K.  Kelly.    3^-  6^- 

CHAUCER'S  Poetical  Works. 
Edited  by  Robert  Bell.  Revised 
Edition,  with  a  Preliminary  Essay 
by  Prof.  W.  W.  Skeat,  M.A.  4 
vols.     3^.  ^d.  each. 

CHESS   CONGRESS  of  1862. 

A  Collection  of  the  Games  played. 
Edited  by  J.  Lowenthal.     5 J. 

CHEVREUL  on  Colour.  Trans- 
lated from  the  French  by  Charles 
Martel.  Third  Edition,  with 
Plates,  5^. ;  or  with  an  additional 
series  of  i6  Plates  in  Colours, 
7^.  td. 

CHILLINGWORTH'S  Religion 
of  Protestants.  A  Safe  Way  to 
Salvation.     3^.  (>d. 

CHINA.  Pictorial,  Descriptive, 
and  Historical.  With  Map  and 
nearly  lOO  Illustrations.     5^. 

CHRONICLES  OF  THE  CRU- 
SADES. Contemporary  Narra- 
tives of  the  Crusade  of  Richard 
Coeur  de  Lion,  by  Richard  of 
Devizes  and  Geoffrey  de  Vinsauf ; 
and  of  the  Crusade  at  St.  Louis, 
by  Lord  John  de  Joinville.     5^. 

CICERO'S  Orations.  Translated 
by  Prof.  C.  D.  Yonge,  M.A.  4 
vols.     5^.  each. 

Letters.  Translated  by  Evelyn 

S.  Shuckburgh.    4  vols.    5^.  each. 

On    Oratory   and    Orators. 

With  Letters  to  Quintus  and 
Brutus.  Translated  by  the  Rev. 
J.  S.  Watson,  M.A.     5^. 

On  tlie  Nature  of  the  Gods, 

Divination,  Fate,  Laws,  a  Re- 
public, Consulship.  Translated 
by  Prof.  C.  D.  Yonge,  M.A.,  and 
Francis  Barham.     5^. 

Academics,  De  Finibus,  and 

Tusculan  Questions.  By  Prof. 
C.  D.  Yonge,  M.A.     5^- 


CICERO'S  Offices  ;  or,  Moral 
Duties.  Cato  Major,  an  Essay 
on  Old  Age;  Lselius,  an  Essay 
on  Friendship ;  Scipio's  Dream  ; 
Paradoxes  ;  Letter  to  Quintus  on 
Magistrates.  Translated  by  C.  R. 
Edmonds.     31. 6^. 

CORNELIUS    NEPOS.— 6"^^ 

Justin. 

CLARK'S  (Hugh)  Introduction 
to  Heraldry.  i8th  Edition,  Re- 
vised and  Enlarged  by  J.  R. 
Planche,  Rouge  Croix.  With 
nearly  1000  Illustrations.  5^.  Or 
with  the  Illustrations  Coloured, 
1 5  J. 

CLASSIC  TALES,  containing 
Rasselas,  Vicar  of  Wakefield, 
Gulliver's  Travels,  and  The  Senti- 
mental Journey.     31.  (>d. 

COLERIDGE'S  (S.  T.)  Friend. 
A  Series  of  Essays  on  Morals, 
Politics,  and  Religion.     3^-  ^d. 

Aids  to  Reflection,  and  the 

Confessions  of  an  Inquiring 
Spirit,  to  which  are  added  the 
Essays  on  Faith  and  the  Book 
OF  Common  Prayer.    3^-  ^d. 

Lectures    and    Notes    on 

Shakespeare  and  other  English 
Poets.    Edited  by  T.Ashe,  ^s.bd. 

Biographia  Literarla;  to- 
gether with  Two  Lay  Sermons. 
3;.  6d. 

Table-Talk  and   Omniana. 

Edited  by  T.  Ashe,  B.A.     3^-  6^* 

Miscellanies,  Esthetic  and 

Literary;  to  which  is  added, 
The  Theory  of  Life.  Col- 
lected and  arranged  by  T.  Ashe, 
B.A.     3-f-  ^' 

COMTE'S  Positive  Philosophy. 
Translated  and  condensed  by 
Harriet  Martineau.  W^th  Intro- 
duction by  Frederic  Harrison. 
3  vols.    5j.  each. 


Contained  in  Bohn's  Libraries, 


COMTE'S  Philosophy  of  the 
Sciences,  being  an  Exposition  of 
the  Principles  of  the  Cours  de 
Philosophu  Positive.  By  G.  H. 
Lewes.    55. 

CONDE'S  History  of  the  Do- 
minion of  the  Arabs  in  Spain. 
Translated  by  Mrs.  Foster.  3 
vols.     3^.  6^.  each. 

COOPER'S  Biographical  Dic- 
tionary. Containing  Concise 
Notices  (upwards  of  15,000)  of 
Eminent  Persons  of  all  Ages  and 
Countries.  By  Thorn  pson  Cooper, 
F.S.A.  With  a  Supplement, 
bringing  the  work  down  to  1883. 
2  vols.     5^.  each. 

COXE'S  Memoirs  of  the  Duke  of 
Marlboroiigh.  With  his  original 
Correspondence.  By  W.  Coxe, 
M.A.,  F.R.S.  Revised  edition 
by  John  Wade.  3  vols.  3^.  6^. 
each. 


*  « 

« 


An  Atlas  of  the  plans  of 
Marlborough's  campaigns,  410. 
lOs.  6d. 


History    of   the    House    of 


Austria  (12 18- 1792).  With  a 
Continuation  from  the  Accession 
of  Francis  I.  to  the  Revolution  of 
1848.     4  vols.     3.f.  6d.  each. 

CRAIK'S  (G.  L.)  Pursuit  of  Knov7- 
ledge  under  Difficulties.  Illus- 
trated by  Anecdotes  and  Memoirs. 
Revised  edition,  with  numerous 
Woodcut  Portraits  and  Plates.   55-. 

CRUIKSHANK'S  Three  Courses 
and  a  Dessert ;  comprising  three 
Sets  of  Tales,  W-st  Country, 
Irish,  and  Legal;  and  a  Melange. 
With  50  humorous  Illustrations 
by  George  Cruikshank.     ^s. 

CRUIKSHANK'S  Punch  and 
Judy.  The  Dialogue  of  the 
Puppet  Show  ;  an  Account  of  its 
Origin,   &c.     With   24    Illustra- 


tions, and  Coloured  Plates,  de- 
signed and  engraved  by  G.  Cruik- 
shank.    5^. 

CUNNINGHAM'S  Lives  of  the 
Most  Eminent  British  Painters. 
A  New  Edition,  with  Notes  and 
Sixteen  fresh  Lives.  By  Mrs. 
Heaton.     3  vols.     3J.  6d,  each. 

DANTE.  Divine  Comedy.  Trans- 
lated by  the  Rev.  H.  F.  Gary, 
M.A.     3j.  6d, 

Translated  into  English  Verse 

by  I.  C.  Wright,  M.A.  3rd  Edi- 
tion, revised.  With  Portrait,  and 
34  Illustrations  on  Steel,  alter 
Flaxman. 

The  Inferno.  A  Literal  Prose 

Translation,  with  the  Text  of  the 
Original  printed  on  the  same  page. 
By  John  A.  Carlyle,  M.D.     5^. 


The  Purgatorio.     A  Literal 

Prose  Translation,  with  the  Text 
printed  on  the  same  page.  By 
W.  S.  Dugdale.     5^. 

DE  COMMINES  (Philip),  Me- 
moirs  of.  Contaming  the  Histories 
of  Louis  XI.  and  Charles  VIII., 
Kings  of  France,  and  Charles 
the  Bold,  Duke  of  Burgundy. 
Together  with  the  Scandalous 
Chronicle,  or  Secret  History  of 
Louis  XL,  by  Jean  de  Troyes. 
Translated  by  Andrew  R.  Scoble. 
With  Portraits.  2  vols.  3J.  6d, 
each. 

DEFOE'S  Novels  and  Misoel- 
laneous  Works.  With  Prefaces 
and  Notes,  including  those  attri- 
buted to  Sir  W.  Scott.  7  vols. 
3^.  6d.  each. 


Captain     Singleton,    an 
Colonel  lack. 


L- 

II. — Memoirs  of  a  Cavalier, 
Captain  Carleton, 
Dickory  Cronke,  &c. 


8 


An  Alphabetical  List  of  Books 


Defoe's  Novels  &c.,  continued. 

III.— Moll   Flanders,    and    the 
History  of  the  Devil. 

IV.— Roxana,  and  Life  of  Mrs. 
Christian  Davies. 
V. —History  of  the  Great  Plague 
of  London,  1665 ;  The 
Storm  (1703);  and  the 
True-bom  Englishman. 

VL— Duncan  Campbell,  New 
Voyage  round  the 
World,  and  Political 
Tracts. 


Vn.— Robinson  Crusoe. 

DE  LOLME  on  the  Constitution 
of  England.  Edited  by  John 
Macgregor.     3^.  6i/. 

DEMMIN'S    History    of   Arms  j 
and  Armour,  from  the  Earliest 
Period.      By   Auguste    Demmin. 
Translated  by  C.  C.  Black,  M.A. 
With  nearly   2000    Illustrations. 

DEMOSTHENES'  Orations. 
Translated  by  C.  Rann  Kennedy. 
5  vols.  Vol.  L,  IS.  6d.  ;  Vols. 
IL-V.,  55.  each. 

DB  STAEL'S  Corlnne  or  Italy. 
By  Madame  de  Stael.  Trans- 
lated by  Emily  Baldwin  and 
Paulina  Driver.     3^.  6d. 

DEVEY'S  Logic,  or  the  Science 
of  Inference.  A  Popular  Manual. 
By  J.  Devey.     51. 

DICTIONARY  of  Latin  and 
areek  Quotations ;  including 
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orum  {622  pages).     5^. 

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DIDRON'S  Christian  Icono- 
graphy: a  History  of  Christian 
Art  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Trans- 
lated by  E.  J.  Millington  and 
completed  by  Margaret  Stokes. 
With  240  Illustrations.  2  vols. 
55.  each. 

DIOaENES  LAERTIUS.  Lives 
and  Opinions  of  the  Ancient 
Philosophers.  Translated  by 
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DOBREE'S  Adversaria.  Edited 
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Literature  of  Ancient,  Mediaeval, 
and  Modern  Times.  By  the  Rev. 
Henry  Philip  Dodd,  M.A.  Ox- 
ford. 2nd  Edition,  revised  and 
enlarged.     6j. 

DONALDSON'S  The  Theatre  of 
the  Greeks.  A  Treatise  on  the 
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Greek  Drama.  With  numerous 
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William  Donaldson,  D.D.     5^. 

DRAPER'S  History  ol  the 
Intellectual  Development  of 
Europe.  By  John  William  Draper, 
M.D.,  LL.D.     2  vols.     5J.  each. 

DUN  LOP' 3  History  of  Fiction. 
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Henry  Wilson.    2  vols.    55.  each. 

DYER  (Dr.  T.  H.).  Pompeii :  its 
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The  City  of  Rome  :  its  History 

and  Monuments.     With  Illustra- 
tions.    5^. 

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ferent Days  of  the  Year  in  the 


Containea  in  Bokn*s  Libraries. 


9 


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TINE. Edited  by  Thomas 
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EBERS'  Egyptian  Princess.  An 
Historical  Novel.  By  George 
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EDGEWORTH'S  Stories  for 
Children.  With  8  Illustrations 
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ELZE'S  William  Shakespeare. 
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Romantic  Composition  in  France 
and  England.  Revised  Edition. 
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ENNEMOSER'S  History  of 
Magic.  Translated  by  William 
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EPICTETUS,  The  Discourses  of. 
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EURIPIDES.  A  New  Literal 
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EUTROPIUS.— 6"^^  Justin. 

EUSEBIUS  PAMPHILCJS, 
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FAIRHOLT'S  Costume  In  Eng- 
land. A  History  of  Dress  to  the 
end  of  the  Eighteenth  Century. 
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Dillon,  V.P.S.A.  Illustrated  with 
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Amelia.     With  Cruikshank's 


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ture. By  John  Flaxman,  R.A. 
With  Portrait  and  53  Plates.     6s. 

FLORENCE  of  WORCESTER'S 
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tinuations :  comprising  Annals  of 
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respondence. Edited  by  J.  E. 
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t»,,a^iM,tlt^llg>*>e!M-i^,:.>^^'.,,i,i^ 


lO 


An  Alphahetical  List  of  Books 


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provement of  Time.  With  Notes 
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Foateriana.      Selected  and 

Edited  by  Henry  G.  Bohn.   3^.  6^. 

GASPARY'S  History  of  Italian 
Literature.  Translated  by  Her- 
mann Oelsner,  M.A.,  Ph.D. 
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GEOFFREY  OF  MONMOUTH, 
Chronicle  of. — See  Six  0.  £* 
Chronicles. 

GESTA  ROMANORXJM,  or  En- 
tertaining Moral  Stories  invented 
by  the  Monks.  Translated  by  the 
Rev.  Charles  Swan.  Revised 
Edition,  by  Wynnard  Hooper, 
B.A.     5^. 

GILDAS,  Chronicles  ot—See  Six 
O.  E.  Chronicles. 

GIBBON'S  Decline  and  Fall  of 
the  Roman  Empire.  Complete 
and  Unabridged,  with  Variorum 
Notes.  Edited  by  an  English 
Churchman.  With  2  Maps  and 
Portrait.     7  vols.     3^.  dd.  each. 

GILBART'S  History,  Principles, 
and  Practice  of  Banking.  By 
the  late  J.  W.  Gilbart,  F.R.S. 
New  Edition,  revised  by  A.  S. 
Michie.     2  vols.     \Q>s. 

GIL  BLAS,  The  Adventures  of. 
Translated  from  the  French  of 
Lesage  by  Smollett.  With  24 
Engravit.gs  on  Steel,  after  Smirke, 
and  10  Etchings  by  George  Cruik- 
shank.     6j. 

GIRALDUS  CAMBRENSIS' 
Historical   Works.      Translated 

'  by  Th.  Forester,  M.A.,  and  Sir 
R.  Colt  Hoare.  Revised  Edition, 
Edited  by  Thomas  Wright,  M.A  , 
F.S.A.    5J. 

GOETHE'S  Fauat.  Part  I.  Ger- 
man Text  with  Hayward's  Prose 
Translation  and  Notes.  Revised 
by  C.  A.  Buchheim,  Ph.D.    5^. 


GOETHE'S  Works.  Translated 
into  English  by  various  hands. 
14  vols.     31.  6t/.  each 

I.  and  II.— Autobiography  and 
Annals. 
III.— Faust.      Two    Parts,    com- 
plete.    (Swan  wick.) 

IV. — Novels  and  Tales, 
v.— Wilhelm  Meister's  Appren- 
ticeship. 

VI.     Conversations   with   Ecker- 
mann  and  Soret. 

VIII.— Dramatic  Works. 
IX.— Wilhelm  Meister's  Travels. 
X.— Tour  in  Italy,  and  Second 
Residence  in  Rome. 
XL— Miscellaneous  Travels. 
XII.— Early     and     Miscellaneous 

Letters. 
XIII.— Correspondence  with  Zelter. 

XIV.— Reineke  Fox,  West-Eastern 
Divan  and  Achilleid. 

GOLDSMITH'S  Works.  A  new 
Edition,  by  J.  W.  M.  Gibbs.  5 
vols.     3^.  6df.  each. 

GRAMMONT'S  Memoirs  of  the 
Court  of  Charles  II.  Edited  by 
Sir  Walter  Scott.  Together  with 
the  BoscoBEL  Tracts,  including 
two  not  before  published,  &c. 
New  Edition.     55. 

GRAY'S  Letters.  Including  the 
Correspondence  of  Gray  and 
Mason.  Edited  by  the  Rev. 
D.  C.  Tovey,  M.A.  Vol.  I. 
y.  6d. 

GREEK  ANTHOLOGY.  Trans- 
lated  by  George  Burges,  M.A.    5^. 

GREEK  ROMANCES  of  Helio- 
doms,  Longus,  and  Achilles 
Tatius— viz.,  The  Adventures  of 
Theagenes  &  Chariclea  ;  Amours 
of  Daphnis  and  Chloe  ;  and  Loves 
of  Clitopho  and  Leucippe.  Trans- 
lated by  Rev.  R.   Smith,  M.A. 


. 


Contained  in  Bohn's  Libraries, 


II 


GREGORY'S  Letters  on  the 
Evidences,  Doctrines,  &  Duties 
of  the  Christian  Religion.  By 
Dr.  Olinthus  Gregory.     3^,  dd, 

GREENE,  MARLOWE,  and 
BEN  JONSON.  Poems  of. 
Edited  by  Robert  Bell.     3^.  dd. 

GRIMM'S  TALES.  With  the 
Notes  of  the  Original.  Translated 
by  Mrs.  A.  Hunt.  With  Intro- 
duction by  Andrew  Lang,  M.A. 
2  vols.     35".  ()d.  each. 

Gammer  Grethel;   or,  Ger- 


man Fairy  Tales  and  Popular 
Stories.  Containing  42  Fairy 
Tales.  Trans,  by  Edgar  Taylor. 
With  numerous  Woodcuts  after 
George  Cruikshank  and  Ludwig 
Grimm.     3^.  dd. 

GROSSI'S  Marco  Visconti. 
Translated  by  A.  F.  D.  The 
Ballads  rendered  into  English 
Verse  by  CM.  P.     3^.  (>d. 

GUIZOT'S  History  of  the 
English  Revolution  of  1640. 
From  the  Accession  of  Charles 
I.  to  his  Death.  Translated  by 
William  Hazlitt.     33-.  dd. 

History  of  Civilisation,  from 


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lated by  William  Hazlitt.  3  vols. 
"^s.  6d.  each. 

HALL'S  (Rev.  Robert)  Miscel- 
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HAMPTON  COURT:  A  Short 
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Palace.  By  Ernest  Law,  B.A. 
With  numerous  Illustrations.     i;s. 

HARDWICK'S  History  of  the 
Articles  of  Religion.  By  the  late 
C.  Hard  wick.  Revised  by  the 
Rev.  Francis  Procter,  M.A.    $s. 

HAUFF'S  Tales.  The  Caravan— 
The  Sheik  of  Alexandria— The 
Inn  in  the  Spessart.  Trans,  from 
the  German  by  S.  Mendel.  3s.  6d. 


HAWTHORNE'S  Tales.  4  vols. 
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I. — Twice-told   Tales,   and   the 

Snow  Image. 
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with  the  Seven  Gables. 
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Faun],  and  Blithedale  Ro- 
mance. 
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HAZLITT'S  Table-talk.  Essays 
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Writers.     3^.  6d. 

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—  Sketches  and  Essays.   y.6d. 
The  Spirit  of  the  Age ;   or, 


Contemporary  Portraits.  Edited 
by  W.  Carew  Hazlitt.     31-.  6d. 

HEATON'S  Concise  History  of 
Painting.  New  Edition,  revised 
by  Cosmo  Monkhouse.     $s. 

HEGEL'S  Lectures  on  the  Philo- 
sophy of  History.  Translated  by 
J.  Sibree,  M.A. 

HEINE'S    Poems,    Complete 
Translated  by  Edgar  A.  Bowring, 
C.B.     3 J.  6d. 

Travel-Pictures,  including  the 

Tour  in  the  Harz,  Norderney,  and 
Book  of  Ideas,  together  with  the 
Romantic  School.  Translated  by 
Francis  Storr.  A  New  Edition, 
revised  throughout.  With  Appen- 
dices and  Maps.     3^.  6d. 

HELP'S  Life  of  Christopher 
Columbus,  the  Discoverer  of 
America.  By  Sir  Arthur  Helps, 
K.C.B.     3^.  6d. 


12 


An  Alphabetical  List  of  Books 


HELP'S  Life  of  Hernando  Cortes, 
and  the  Conquest  of  Mexico.  2 
vols.     3i.  6d.  each. 

Life  of  Pizarro.    35.  6J. 

Life  of  Las  Casas  the  Apostle 

of  the  Indies.     35.  dd. 

HENDERSON  (E.)  Select  His- 
torical Documents  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  including  the  most  famous 
Charters  relating  to  England,  the 
Empire,  the  Church,  &c.,  from 
the  6th  to  the  14th  Centuries. 
Translated  from  the  Latin  and 
edited  by  Ernest  F.  Henderson, 
A.B.,  A.M.,  Ph.D.     5J. 

HENFREY'S  Guide  to  EngUsh 
Coins,  from  the  Conquest  to  the 
present  time.  New  and  revised 
Edition  by  C.  F.  Keary,  M.A., 
F.S.A.     6j. 

HENRY  OF  HUNTINGDON'S 
History  of  the  English.  Trans- 
lated by  T.  Forester,  M.A.     55. 

HENRY'S  (Matthew)  Exposition 
of  the  Book  of  the  Psalms.     $s. 

HELIODORUS.  Theagenes  and 
Chariclea.  —  See  Greek  Ro- 
mances. 

HERODOTUS.  Translated  by  the 
Rev.  Henry  Cary,  M.A.     y.  6d. 

Notes  on.  Original  and  Se- 
lected from  the  best  Commenta- 
tors. By  D.  W.  Turner,  M.A. 
With  Coloured  Map.     5^. 

Analysis  and  Summary  of. 

By  J.  T.  Wheeler.     $5. 

HESIOD,  CALLIMACHUS,  and 
THEOGNIS.  Translated  by  the 
Rev.  J.  Banks,  M.A.     55. 

HOFFMANN'S  (E.  T.  *A.,  The 
Serapion  Brethren.  Translated 
from  the  German  by  Lt.-Col.  Alex. 
Ewing.     2  vols.     3^.  dd.  each. 

HOGG'S  (Jabez)  Elements  of 
Experimental  and  Natural 
Philosophy.  With  400  Wood- 
cuts.    SJ". 


HOLBEIN'S  Dance  of  Death 
and  Bible  Cuts.  Upwards  of  150 
Subjects,  engraved  in  facsimile, 
with  Introduction  and  Descrip- 
tions by  Francis  Douce  and  Dr. 
Thomas  Frognall  Dibden.     $$. 

HOMER'S  Iliad.  Translated  into 
English  Prose  by  T.  A.  Buckley, 
B.A.     5^. 

Odyssey.    Hymns,  Epigrams, 

and  Battle  of  the  Frogs  and  Mice. 
Translated  into  English  Prose  by 
T.  A.  Buckley,  B.A.     S^. 

See  also  Pope. 


HOOPER'S  (G.)  Waterloo :  The 
Downfall  of  the  First  Napo- 
leon: a  History  of  the  Campaign 
of  18 1 5.  By  George  Hooper. 
With  Maps  and  Plans.     3^.  (>d. 

The    Campaign  cf   Sedan: 

The  Downfall  of  the  Second  Em- 
pire, August  -  September,  1870. 
With  General  Map  and  Six  Plans 
of  Battle.     3^.  6d. 

HORACE.  A  new  literal  Prose 
translation,  by  A.  Hamilton  Bryce, 
LL.D.     3 J.  6d. 

HUGO'S  (Victor)  Dramatic 
Works.  Hernani  —  Ruy  Bias  — 
The  King's  Diversion.  Translated 
by  Mrs.  Newton  Crosland  and 
F.  L.  Slous.     p.  6d. 

Poems,  chiefly  Lyrical.  Trans- 
lated by  various  Writers,  now  first 
collected  by  J.  H.  L.  Williams. 
2s.  6d. 

HUMBOLDT'S  Cosmos.  Trans- 
lated by  E.  C.  Otte,  B.  H.  Paul, 
and  W.  S.  Dallas,  F.L.S.  5  vols. 
p.  6d.  each,  excepting  Vol.  V.  5.?. 

Personal    Narrative    of   his 

Travels  to  the  Equinoctial  Regions 
of  America  during  the  years  1799- 
1804.  Translated  by  T.  Ross.  3 
vols.     5-^'  each. 

Views  of  Nature.    Translated 


Containea  in  Bohn's  Libraries. 


r 

i 


jf 


13 


by  E.  C.  Otte  and  H.  G.  Bohn. 

5^- 


HUMPHREYS'  Coin  CoUeotora' 
Manual.  By  H.  N.  Humphreys, 
With  upwards  of  140  Illustrations 
on  Wood  and  Steel.  2  vols.  5j'. 
each 

HUNGARY :  its  History  and  Re- 
volution, together  with  a  copious 
Memoir  of  Kossuth.     3^.  6d. 

HUTCHINSON  (Colonel).  Me- 
moirs  of  the  Life  of.  By  his 
Widow,  Lucy  :  together  with  her 
Autobiography,  and  an  Account 
of  the  Siege  of  Lathom  House. 
2s.  6d. 

HUNT'S  Poetry  of  Science.  By 
Richard  Hunt.  3rd  Edition,  re- 
vised and  enlarged.     55. 

INDIA  BEFORE  THE  SEPOY 
MUTINY.  A  Pictorial,  De- 
scriptive, and  Historical  Ac- 
count, from  the  Earliest  Times 
to  the  Annexation  of  the  Punjab. 
With  upwards  of  lOO  Engravings 
on  Wood,  and  a  Map.     55-. 

INGULPH'S  Chronicles  of  the 
Abbey  of  Croylana,  with  the 
Continuation  by  Peter  of  Blois 
and  other  Writers.  Translated  by 
H.  T.  Riley,  M.A.     5^. 

IRVING'S  (Washington)  Com- 
plete Works.  1 5  vols.  With  Por- 
traits, &c.     3^.  6d.  each. 

I.  —  Salmagundi,      Knicker- 
bocker's History  of  New 
York. 
II. — The  Sketch- Book,  and  the 
Life  of  Oliver  Goldsmith. 
III. — Bracebridge  Hall,    Abbots- 
ford  and  Newstead  Abbey. 
IV. — The  Alhambra,  Tales  of  a 
Traveller, 
v.— Chronicle  of  the   Conquest 
of  Granada,    Legends  of 
the  Conquest  of  Spain. 
VI.&VIL— Life    and    Voyages  of 
Columbus,  together  with 
the  Voyages  of  his  Com- 
panions. 
VIII. — Astoria,    A    Tour    on    the 
Prairies. 


Irving's  Works  contintied. 

XI. — Life  of  Mahomet,  Livesof  the 
Successors  of  Mahomet. 
X. — Adventures  of  Captain  Bon^ 
neville,  U.S.A.,  Wolfert's 
Roost. 
XI. — Biographies   and    Miscella- 
neous Papers. 
XII.-XV.— Life  of  George  Wash- 
ington.    4  vols. 

Life   and    Letters.     By  his 

Nephew,  Pierre  E.Irving.   2 vols. 
3j.  dd.  each. 

ISOCRATES,  The  Orations  of. 
Translated  by  J.  H.  Freese,  M.A. 
Vol.  I.    5J. 

JAMES'S  (G.  P.  R.)  Life  of 
Richard  Coeur  de  Lion.  2  vols. 
3^.  dd.  each. 

The  Life  and  Times  of  Louis 

XIV.    2  vols.     3.f.  dd,  each. 

JAMESON'S  (Mrs.)  Shake- 
speare's  Heroines.  Character- 
istics of  Women :  Moral,  Poetical, 
and  Historical.  By  Mrs.  Jameson. 
3J.  dd. 

JESSE'S  (E.)  Anecdotes  of  Dogs. 
With  40  Woodcuts  and  34  Steel 
Engravings.     5^. 

JESSE'S  (J.  H.)  Memoirs  of  the 
Court  of  England  during  the 
Reign  of  the  Stuarts,  including^ 
the  Protectorate.  3  vols.  With 
42  Portraits.     5^.  each. 

Memo'rs  of  the  Pretenders 

and  theL  Adherents.     With  6 
Portraits.     5^. 

JOHNSON'S  Lives  of  the  Poets. 
Edited  by  Mrs.  Alexander  Napier, 
with  Introduction  by  Professor 
Hales.     3  vols.     3^.  dd.  each. 

JOSEPHUS  (Flavius),  The  Works 
of.  Whiston's  Translation,  re- 
vised by  Rev.  A.  R.  Shilleto,  M.A. 
With  Topographical  and  Geo- 
graphical Notes  by  Colonel  Sir 
C.  W.  Wilson,  K.C.B.  5  vols. 
3i.  6^.  each. 


14 


An  Alphabetical  List  oj  Books 


JOYCE'S  Scientific  Dialogues. 
With  numerous  Woodcuts.     5^. 

JUKES-BROWNE  (A.  J.),  The 
Building  of  the  British  Isles: 
a  Study  in  Geographical  Evolu- 
tion. Illustrated  by  numerous 
Maps  and  Woodcuts.  2nd  Edition, 
revised,  7^.  (>d. 

Student's    Handbook    of 

Physical  Geology.  With  nu- 
merous Diagrams  and  Illustra- 
tions. 2nd  Eaiiion,  much  en- 
larged, 7^.  6af. 

The  Student's  Handbook  of 

Historical  Geology.  With  nu- 
merous Diagrams  and  Illustra- 
tions,    ds, 

JULIAN,  the  Emperor.  Contain- 
ing Gregary  Nazianzen's  Two  In- 
▼ecdves  and  Libanus'  Monody, 
with  Julian's  extant  Theosophical 
Works.  Translated  by  C.  W. 
King,  M.A.     5^- 

JUSTIN,  CORNELIUS  NEPOS, 
and  EUTROPIUS.  Translated 
by  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Watson,  M.A. 

JUVENAL,  PERSIUS,  SUL- 
PICIA  and  LUCILIUS.  Trans- 
lated by  L.  Evans,  M.A.     5^ 

JUNIUS'S  Letters.  With  all  the 
Notes  of  Woodfall's  Edition,  and 
important  Additions.  2  vols.  3^.6^/. 
each. 

KANT'S  Critique  of  Pure  Reason. 
Translated  by  J.  M.  D.  Meikle- 
john.     5*^' 

Prolegomena  and  Meta- 
physical Foundation  s  ofNatural 
Science.  Translated  by  E.  Belfort 
Bax.     5^. 

KEIGHTLEY'S  (Thomas)  My- 
thology of  Ancient  Greece  and 
Italy.  4th  Edition,  revised  by 
Leonard  Schroitz,  Ph.D,  LL.D. 
With  12  Plates  from  the  Antique. 


KEIGHTLEY'S  Fairy  Myth- 
ology, illustrative  of  the  Romance 
and  Superstition  of  Various  Coun- 
tries. Revised  Edition,  with 
Frontispiece  by  Cruik^hank.     ^s, 

LA  FONTAINE'S  Fables.  Trans- 
lated  into  English  Verse  by  Elizur 
Wright.  New  Edition,  with  Notes 
by  J.  W.  M.  Gibbs.     3^.6^. 

LAMARTINE'S  History  of  the 
Girondists  Translated  by  H.  T. 
Ryde.      3  vols.     3^.  6t/.  each. 

History  of  the  Restoration 

of  Monarchy  in  France  (a  Sequel 
to  the  History  of  the  Girondists). 
4  vols.     3^.  (>d.  each. 

History  of  the  French  Re- 
volution of  1848.     y.dd. 

LAIVTB'S  (Charles)  Essays  of  Elia 
and  Eliana.  Complete  Edition. 
3^.  6t/. 

Specimens  of  English  Dra- 
matic Poets  of  the  Time  of 
Elizabeth.    3^.  6<«. 

Memorials   and  Letters    of 


Charles  Lamb.  By  Serjeant 
Talfourd.  New  Edition,  revised, 
by  W.  Carew  Hazlitt.  2  vols. 
35.  6</.  each. 

LANZI'S  History  of  Painting  in 
Italy,  from  the  Period  of  the 
Revival  of  the  Fine  Arts  to  the 
End  of  the  Eighteenth  Century. 
Translated  by  Thomas  Roscoe. 
3  vols.     3J'.  ^d.  each. 

LAPPENBERG'S  History  of 
England  under  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  Kings.  Translated  by 
B.  Thorpe,  F.S.A.  New  edition, 
revised  by  E.  C.  Otte,  2  vols. 
3j.  6^.  each. 

LECTURES  ON  PAINTING, 
by  Barry,  Opie,  Fuseli.  Edited 
by  R.  Wornum.     5^. 

LEONARDO  DA  VINCI'S 
Treatise  on   Painting.     Trans- 


Contained  in  BohrCs  Libraries. 


15 


lated  bv  T.  F.  Rigaud,  R.A., 
With  a  Life  of  Leonardo  by  John 
William  Brown.  With  numerous 
Plates.     5^. 

LELAND'S  Itinerary.  Edited  by 
Laurence  Gomme,  F.S.A.  Vol.  I. 

[/«  the  Press. 

LEPSIUS'S  Letters  from  Egypt, 
Ethiopia,  and  the  Peninsula  of 
Sinai.  Translated  by  L.  and 
J.  B.  Horner.     With  Maps.     5^. 

LESSING'S  Dramatic  Works, 
Complete.  Edited  by  Ernest  Bell, 
M.A.  With  Memoir  of  Lessing 
by  Helen  Zimmern.  2  vols. 
3 J.  dd.  each. 

Laokoon,   Dramatic  Notes, 

and  the  Representation  of 
Death  by  the  Ancients.  Trans- 
lated by  E.  C.  Beasley  and  Helen 
Zimmern.  Edited  by  Edward 
Bell,  M.A.  With  a  Frontispiece 
of  the  Laokoon  group.     3^.  6^. 

LILLY'S  Introduction  to  Astro- 
logy. With  a  Grammar  of 
Astrology  and  Tables  for  Cal- 
culating Nativities,  by  Zadkiel.  5^. 

LIVY'S  History  of  Rome.  Trans- 
lated by  Dr.  Spillan,  C  Edmonds, 
and  others.     4  vols.     55.  each. 

LOCKE'S  Philosophical  Works. 

Edited  by  J.  A.  St.  John.    2  vols. 

31.  dd.  each. 
Life  and  Letters:     By  Lord 

King.     3^.  (id. 

LOCKHART  (J.  G.)— ^^^  Burns. 

LODGE'S  Portraits  of  Illustrious 
Personages  of  Great  Britain, 
with  Biographical  and  Historical 
Memoirs.  240  Portraits  engraved 
on  Steel,  with  the  respective  Bio- 
graphies unabridged.  8  vols.  5J". 
each. 

LONGFELLOW'S  Prose 
Works.  With  16  hill- page  Wood 
Engravings.     5^. 


LOUDON'S  (Mrs.)  Natural 
History.  Revised  edition,  by 
W.  S.  Dallas,  F.L.S.  With 
numerous  Woodcut  Illus.     5^. 

LOWNDES'  Bibliographer's 
Manual  of  English  Literature. 
Enlarged  Edition.  By  H.  G. 
Bohn.  6  vols,  cloth,  5 J.  each. 
Or  4  vols,  half  morocco,  2/.  is. 

LONGUS.  Daphnis  and  Chloe. 
— See  Greek  Romances. 

LUCAN'S  Pharsalia.  Translated 
by  H.  T.  Riley,  M.A.     51. 

LUC  IAN' S  Dialogues  of  the 
Gods,  of  the  Sea  Gods,  and 
of  the  Dead.  Translated  by 
Howard  Williams,  M.A.     5^. 

LUCRETIUS.  Translated  by  the 
Rev.  J.  S.  Watson,  M.A.     5^. 

LUTHER'S  Table-Talk.  Trans- 
lated and  Edited  by  William 
Hazlitt.     35.  6t/. 

Autobiography.  —  5^^ 

MiCHELET. 

MACHIAVELLI'S  History  of 
Florence,  together  with  the 
Prince,  Savonarola,  various  His- 
torical Tracts,  and  a  Memoir  of 
Machiavelli.     y.  (>d. 

MALLET'S  Northern  Anticiul- 
ties,  or  an  Historical  Account  of 
the  Manners,  Customs,  Religions 
and  Laws,  Maritime  Expeditions 
and  Discoveries,  Language  and 
Literature,  of  the  Ancient  Scandi- 
navians. Translated  by  Bishop 
Percy.  Revised  and  Enlarged 
Edition,  with  a  Translation  of  the 
Prose  Edda,  by  J.  A.  Black- 
well.     5^. 

MANTELL'S  (Dr.)  Petrifactions 
and  their  Teachings.    With  nu- 
merous illustrative  Woodcuts.  ()S, 
Wonders  of  Geology.     8th 


Edition,  revised  by  T.  Rupert 
Jones,  F.G.S.  With  a  coloured 
Geological  Map  of  England, 
Plates,  and  upwards  ol  200 
Woodcuts.    2  vols.    7^.  6d.  each. 


l6 


An  Alpliabetical  List  of  Books 


MANZONI.  The  Betrothed : 
being  a  Translation  of  *I  Pro- 
messi  Sposi.'  By  Alessandro 
Manzoni.  With  numerous  Wood- 
cuts.    5J. 

MARCO    POLO'S    Travels;   the 

Translation  of  Marsden  revised 
by  T.  Wright,  M.A.,  F.S.A.     51. 

MARRYAT'S  (Capt.  R.N.) 
Masterman  Ready.  With  93 
Woodcuts.     3^.  (yd. 

Mission ;  or,  Scenes  in  Africa. 

Illustrated  by  Gilbert  and  DalzieL 
31.  dd. 

Pirate  and  Three  Cutters. 

With  8  Steel  Engravings,  from 
Drawings  by  Clarkson  Stanfield, 
R.A.     3^.  (yd. 

Privateersman.  8  Engrav- 
ings on  Steel.     3J.  da 

Settlers  In  Canada.  10  En- 
gravings by  Gilbert  and  Dalziel. 
35-  dd. 

Poor  Jack.      With  16  Illus- 


trations after  Clarkson  Stansfield, 
R.A.     y.  dd. 

Peter  Simple.  With  8  full- 
page  Illustrations.     3^.  (>d, 

Midshipman  Easy.    With  8 

full- page  Illustrations.     3.^.  dd. 

MARTIAL'S  Epigrams,  complete. 
Translated  into  Prose,  each  ac- 
companied by  one  or  more  Verse 
Translations  selected  from  the 
Works  of  English  Poets,  and 
other  sources.     71.  (ai. 

MARTINEAU'S  (Harriet)  His- 
tory of  England,  from  1800- 
1815.    3^.  dd. 

History  of  the  Thirty  Years' 

Peace,  a.d.  1815-46.  4  vols. 
31.  dd.  each. 

See  Comte' 5  Positive  Philosophy. 

MATTHEW  PARIS'S  English 
History,  from  the  Year  1235  to 
1273.  Translated  by  Rev.  J.  A. 
Giles,  D.C.L.     3  vols.    51.  each. 


MATTHEW  OF  WESTMIN- 
STER'S Flowers  of  History, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  World 
to  A.D.  1307.  Translated  by  C.  D. 
Yonge,  M.A.     2  vols.     5.^.  each. 

MAXWELL'S  Victories  of  Wel- 
lington and  the  British  Armies. 
Frontispiece  and  5  Portraits.     $s, 

MENZEL'S  History  of  Germany, 
from  the  Earliest  Period  to  1842. 
3  vols.     3^.  dd.  each. 

MICHAEL  ANGELO  AND 
RAPHAEL,  their  Lives  and 
Works.  By  Duppa  and  Quatre- 
mere  de  Quincy.  With  Portraits, 
and  Engravings  on  Steel.     5^. 

MICHELET'S  Luther's  Auto- 
biography. Trans,  by  William 
Hazlitt.  With  an  Appendix  (no 
pages)  of  Notes.    31.  dd. 

History  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution from  its  earliest  indications 
to  the  flight  of  the  King  in  1791. 
3i'.  dd. 

MIGNET'S  History  of  the  French 
Revolution,  from  1789  to  1814. 
3^.  dd. 

MILL  (J.  S.).  Early  Essays  by 
John  Stuart  Mill.  Collected  from 
various  sources  by  J.  W.  M.  Gibbs. 
3 J.  dd. 

MILLER  (Professor).  History 
Philosophically  Illustrated,  from 
the  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  to 
the  French  Revolution.  4  vols. 
35-.  dd.  each. 

MILTON'S  Prose  Works.  Edited 
by  J.  A.  St.  John.  5  vols.  31.  dd. 
each. 

Poetical  Works,  with  a  Me- 


moir and  Critical  Remarks  by 
James  Montgomery,  an  Index  to 
Paradise  Lost,  Todd's  Verbal  Index 
to  all  the  Poems,  and  a  Selection 
of  Explanatory  Notes  by  Henry 
G.  Bohn.  Illustrated  with  120 
Wood  Engravings  from  Drawings 
by  W.  Harvey.  2  vols.  3^.  dd. 
each. 


Contained  in  Bohn^s  Libraries. 


17 


/ 


1^ 


MITFORD'S  (Miss)  Our  Village. 
Sketches  of  Rural  Character  and 
Scenery.  With  2  Engravings  on 
Steel.     2  vols.     is.  dd.  each. 

MOLIERE'S    Dramatic  Works. 

A    new   Translation    in  English 

Prose,  by  C.    H.  Wall.  3  vols. 
3J.  dd.  each. 

MONTAGU.  The  Letters  and 
Works  of  Lady  Mary  Wortley 
Montagu.  Edited  by  her  great- 
grandson,  Lord  Wharncliffe's  Edi- 
tion, and  revised  by  W.  Moy 
Thomas.  New  Edition,  revised, 
with  5  Portraits.    2  vols.    5j.  each. 

MONTAIGNE'S  Essays.  Cotton's 
Translation,  revised  by  W.  C. 
Hazlitt.  New  Edition.  3  vols. 
3 J.  dd.  each. 

MONTESQUIEU'S  Spirit  of 
Laws.  New  Edition,  revised  and 
corrected.  By  J.  V.  Pritchard, 
A.M.     2  vols.     y.  dd.  each. 

MOTLEY  (J.  L.).  The  Rise  of 
the  Dutch  Republic.  A  History. 
By  John  Lothrop  Motley.  New 
Edition,  with  Biographical  Intro- 
duction by  Moncure  D.  Conway. 
3  vols.     3^.  dd.  each. 

MORPHY'S  Games  ot  Chess. 
Being  the  Matches  and  best  Games 
played  by  the  American  Champion, 
with  Explanatory  and  Analytical 
Notes  by  J.  Lowenthal.     5^. 

MUDIE'S  British  Birds ;  or.  His- 
tory of  the  Feathered  Tribes  of  the 
British  Islands.  Revised  by  W. 
C.  L.  Martin.  With  52  Figures 
of  Birds  and  7  Coloured  Plates  of 
Eggs.     2  vols. 

NEANDER  (Dr.  A.).  History 
of  the  Christian  Religion  and 
Church.  Trans,  from  the  German 
byJ.Torrey.    10  vols.  3^.6^/.  each. 

Life  of  Jesus  Christ.  Trans- 
lated by  J.  McClintock  and  C. 
Blumenthal.     y.  dd. 


NEANDER  (Dr.  A.).  History  of 
the  Planting  and  Training  of 
the  Christian  Church  by  the 
Apostles.  Translated  by  J.  E. 
Ryland.     2  vols.     3 J.  dd.  each. 

Lectures  on  the  History 

Christian  Dogmas.  Edited  by 
Dr.  Jacobi.  Translated  by  J.  E. 
Ryland.     2  vols.     3^.  (>d.  each. 

Memorials  of  Christian  Life 


in  the  Early  and  Middle  Ages ; 
including  Light  in  Dark  Places. 
Trans,  by  J.  E.  Ryland.     3^.  dd. 

NIBELUNGEN  LIED.  The 
Lay  of  the  Nibelungs,  metrically 
translated  from  the  old  German 
text  by  Alice  Horton,  and  edited 
by  Edward  Bell,  M.A.  To  which 
is  prefixed  the  Essay  on  the  Nibe- 
lungen  Lied  by  Thomas  Carlyle. 

NEW  TESTAMENT  (The)  in 
Greek.  Griesbach's  Text,  with 
various  Readings  at  the  foot  of 
the  page,  and  Parallel  References 
in  the  margin  ;  also  a  Critical 
Introduction  and  Chronological 
Tables.  By  an  eminent  Scholar, 
with  a  Greek  and  English  Lexicon. 
3rd  Edition,  revised  and  corrected. 
Two  Facsimiles  of  Greek  Manu- 
scripts.    900  pages.     5j. 

The  Lexicon  may  be  had  sepa- 
rately, price  2s. 

NICOLINI'S  History  of  the 
Jesuits :  their  Origin,  Progress, 
Doctrines,  and  Designs.  With  8 
Portraits.     5^. 

NORTH  (R.)  Lives  of  the  Right 
Hon.  Francis  North,  Baron  Guild- 
ford, the  Hon.  Sir  Dudley  North, 
and  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Dr.  John 
North.  By  the  Hon.  Roger 
North.  Together  with  the  Auto- 
biography of  the  Author.  Edited 
by  Augustus  Jessopp,  D.D.  3  vols. 
is.  dd.  each. 

NUGENT'S  (Lord)  Memorials 
of   Hampden,    his  Party   and 


i 


i8 


An  Alphabetical  List  of  Books 


Times.  With  a  Memoir  of  the 
Author,  an  Autograph  Letter,  and 
Portrait.     S^. 

OCKLEY  (S.)  History  of  the 
Saracens  and  their  Conquests 
in  Syria,  Persia,  and  Egypt. 
By  Simon  Ockley,  B.D.,  Professor 
of  Arabic  in  the  University  of 
Cambiidge.     3^.  6d. 

OMAN  (J.  C.)  The  Great  Indian 
Epics :  the  Stories  of  the  Rama- 
YANA  and  the  Mahabharata. 
By  John  Campbell  Oman,  Prin- 
cipal of  Khalsa  College,  Amritsar. 
With  Notes,  Appendices,  and 
Illustrations.     V'  6^/- 

ORDERICUS  VITALISE  Eccle- 
siastical History  of  England 
and  Normandy.  Translated  by 
T.  Forester,  M.A.  To  which  is 
added  the  Chronicle  of  St. 
EvROULT.     4  vols.     5J-.  each. 

OVIB'S  Works, complete.  Literally 
translated  into  Prose.  3  vols. 
5 J.  each. 

PASCAL'S  Thoughts.  Translated 
from  the  Text  of  M.  Auguste 
Molinier  by  C.  Kegan  Paul.  3rd 
Edition.     3^.  dd. 

PAULI'S  (Dr.  R.)  Life  of  Alfred 
the  Great.  Translated  from  the 
German.  To  which  is  appended 
Alfred's  Anglo-Saxon  Version 
OF  Okosius.  With  a  literal 
Translation  interpaged,  Notes, 
and  an  Anglo-Saxon  Grammar 
and  Glossary,  by  B.  Thorpe.  5^. 

PAUSANIAS'  Description  of 
Greece.  Newly  translated  by  A.  R. 
Shilleto,  M.A.    2  vols.     5^.  each. 

PEARSON'S  Exposition  of  the 
Greed.  Edited  by  E.  Walford, 
M.A.     5^. 

PEPYS'  Diary  and  Correspond- 
ence. Deciphered  by  the  Rev. 
J.  Smith,  M.A.,  from  the  original 
Shorthand  MS.  in  the  Pepysian 


Library.  Edited  by  Lord  Bray- 
brooke.  4  vols.  With  31  En- 
gravings.    5-*'-  each. 

PERCY'S  Rellques  of  Ancient 
English  Poetry.  With  an  Essay 
on  Ancient  Minstrels  and  a  Glos- 
sary. Edited  by  J.  V.  Pritchard, 
A.M.     2  vols.     3J.  6d.  each. 

PERSIUS.— 5^^  Juvenal. 

PETRARCH'S  Sonnets,  Trl- 
iimphs,  and  other  Poems. 
Translated  into  English  Verse  by 
various  Hands.  With  a  Life  of 
the  Poet  by  Thomas  Campbell. 
With  Portrait  and  15  Steel  En- 
gravings.    5^. 

PHILO  -  JUDiEUS,  Works  of. 
Translated  by  Prof.  C.  D.  Yonge, 
M.A.     4  vols.     55.  each. 

PICKERING'S  History  of  the 
Races  of  Man,  and  their  Geo- 
graphical Distribution.  With  An 
Analytical  Synopsis  of  the 
Natural  History  of  Man  by 
Dr.  Hall.  With  a  Map  of  the 
World  and  12  coloured  Plates.  55. 

PINDAR.  Translated  into  Prose 
by  Dawson  W.  Turner.  To  which 
is  added  the  Metrical  Version  by 
Abraham  Moore,      ^s. 

PLAN  CHE.  History  of  British 
Costume,  from  the  Earliest  Time 
to  the  Close  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century.  By  J-  R.  Planch^, 
Somerset  Herald.  With  upwards 
of  400  Illustrations,     ^s. 

PLATO'S  Works.  Literally  trans- 
lated, with  Introduction  and 
Notes.     6  vols.     51.  each. 

I.— The  Apology-  of  Socrates, 
Crito,  Phjedo,  Goreias,  Pro- 
tagoras, Phcedrus,  Theaetetus, 
Euthyphron,  Lysis.  Trans- 
lated by  the  Rev.  H.  Carey. 
II.— The  Republic,  Timoeus,  and 
Critias.  Translated  by  Henry 
Davis. 


Contained  in  BohtHs  Libraries. 


19 


/ 


i 


I 


i 


Plato's  Works  contintud. 

III. — Meno,  Euthydemus,  The 
Sophist,  Statesman,  Cratylus, 
Parmenides,  and  the  Banquet. 
Translated  by  G.  Burges. 

IV. — Philebus,  Charmides,  Laches, 
Menexenus,  Hippias,  Ion, 
The  Two  Alcibiades,  The- 
ages.  Rivals,  Hipparchus, 
Minos,  Clitopho,  Epistles. 
Translated  by  G.  Burges. 

V. — The    Laws.       Translated    by 
G.  Burges. 

VI.— The  Doubtful  Works.  Trans- 
lated by  G.  Burges. 

Summary  and  Analysis  of 

the  Dialogues.    With  Analytical 
Index.     By  A.  Day,  LL.D.     5^. 

PLAUTUS'S  Comedies.  Trans- 
lated by  H.  T.  Riley,  M.A.  2 
vols.     5^'.  each. 

PLINY'S  Natural  History. 
Translated  by  the  late  John 
Bostock,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  and  H.  T. 
Riley,  M.A.     6  vols.     5^.  each. 

PLINY.  The  Letters  of  Pliny 
the  Younger.  Melmoth's  trans- 
lation, revised  by  the  Rev.  F.  C. 
T.  Bosanquet,  M.A.     ^s. 

PLOTINUS,  Select  Works  of. 
Translated  by  Thomas  Taylor. 
With  an  Introduction  containing 
the  substance  of  Poiphyry's  Plo- 
tinus.  Eo^ited  by  G.  R.  S.  Mead, 
B.A.,  M.R.A.S.     5J. 

PLUTARCH'S  Lives.  Translated 
by  A.  Stewart,  M.A.,  and  George 
Long,  M.A.    4  vols.    3^.  dd.  each. 

Morals.  Theosophical  Essays. 

Translated  by  C.  W.  King,  M.A. 

Morals.      Ethical    Essays. 

Translated   by   the   Rev.    A.   R. 
Shilleto,  M.A.     5j. 

POETRY  OF  AMERICA.  Se- 
lections   from    One    Hundred 


American  Poets,  from  1776  to 
1876.     By  W.  J.  Linton.     3^.  dd. 

POLITICAL    CYCLOPEDIA. 

A  Dictionary  of  Political,  Con- 
stitutional, Statistical,  and  Fo- 
rensic Knowledge ;  forming  a 
Work  of  Reference  on  subjects  of 
Civil  Administration,  Political 
Economy,  Finance,  Commerce, 
Laws,  and  Social  Relations.  4 
vols.     35.  6<a?.  each. 

POPE'S  Poetical  Works.  Edited, 
with  copious  Notes,  by  Robert 
Carrutbers.  With  numerous  Illus- 
trations.    2  vols.     5-^*  each. 

Homer's  Iliad.      Edited    by 

the  Rev.  J.  S.  Watson,  M.A. 
Illustrated  by  the  entire  Series  of 
Flaxman's  Designs.     5J. 

Homer's  Odyssey,  with  the 

Battle  of  Frogs  and  Mice,  Hymns, 
&c. ,  by  other  translators.  Edited 
by  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Watson,  M.A. 
With  the  entire  Series  of  Flax- 
man's  Designs.    5.f. 

Life,   including   many  of  his 

Letters.  By  Robert  Carruthers. 
With  numerous  Illustrations.     51. 

POXJSHKIN'S  Prose  Tales:  The 
Captain's  Daughter— Doubrovsky 
—  The  Queen  of  Spades  —  An 
Amateur  Peasant  Girl — The  Shot 
—The  Snow  Storm— The  Post- 
master —  The  Coffin  Maker  — 
Kirdjali— The  Egyptian  Nights- 
Peter  the  Great's  Negro.  Trans- 
lated by  T.  Keane.     3^.  6^. 

PROPERTIUS.  Translated  by 
Rev.  P.  J.  F.  Gantillon,  M.A., 
and  accompanied  by  Poetical 
Versions,   from    various   sources. 

3 J.  dd. 

PROVERBS,  Handbook  of.  Con- 
taining an  entire  Republication 
of  Ray's  Collection  of  English 
Proverbs,  with  his  additions  from 
Foreign  Languages  and  a  com- 
plete Alphabetical  Index;  in  which 


20 


An  Alphabetical  List  of  Books 


are  introduced  large  additions  as 
well  of  Proverbs  as  of  Sayings, 
Sentences,  Maxims,  and  Phrases, 
collected  by  H.  G.  Bohn.     5^. 

PKOVERBS,  A  Polyglot  of 
Foreign.  Comprising  French, 
Italian,  German,  Dutch,  Spanish, 
Portuguese,  and  Danish.  With 
English  Translations  &  a  General 
Index  by  H.  G.  Bohn      5^. 

POTTERY  AND  PORCELAIN, 
and  other  Objects  of  Vertu.  Com- 
prising an  Illustrated  Catalogue  of 
the  Bernal  Collection  of  Works 
of  Art,  with  the  prices  at  which 
they  were  sold  by  auction,  and 
names  of  the  possessors.  To  which 
are  added,  an  Introductory  Lecture 
on  Pottery  and  Porcelain,  and  an 
Engraved  List  of  all  the  known 
Marks  and  Monograms.  By  Henry 
G.  Bohn.  With  numerous  Wood 
Engravings,  5^. ;  or  with  Coloured 
Illustrations,  \os.  6d. 

PROUT'S  (Father)  ReUques.  Col- 
lected and  arranged  by  Rev.  F. 
Mahony.  Copyright  edition  with 
the  Author's  last  corrections  and 
additions.  New  issue,  with  21 
Etchings  by  D.  Maclise,  R.A. 
Nearly  600  pages.     5^. 

QUINTILIAN'S   InsUtutes  of 

Oratory,    or    Education    of    an 

Orator.     Translated  by  the  Rev. 

S.  Watson,  M.A.     2  vols.     5.?. 

each. 

RACINE'S  (Jean)  Dramatio 
Works.  A  metrical  English  ver- 
sion. By  R.  Bruce  Boswell,  M.A. 
Oxon.     2  vols.     3^.  6d.  each. 

BANKE'S  History  of  tho  Popes, 
their  Church  and  State,  and  espe- 
cially of  their  Conflicts  with  Pro- 
testantism in  the  i6th  and  17th 
centuries.  Translated  by  £. 
Foster.     3  vols.    p.  6d.  each. 

History  of  Servia  and  the 

Servian  Revolution.     With  an 


Account  of  the  Insurrection  in 
Bosnia.  Translated  by  Mrs.  Kerr. 
3J.  6d. 

REUMONT  (Alfred  dej.  See 
Car  A  FAS. 

RECREATIONS  in  SHOOTING. 

By  '  Craven.'  With  62  Engravings 
on  Wood  after  Harvey,  and  9 
Engravings  on  Steel,  chiefly  after 
A.  Cooper,  R.A.     51. 

RENNIE'S  Insect  Architecture. 
Revised  and  enlarged  by  Rev. 
J.  G.  Wood,  M.A.  With  186 
Woodcut  Illustrations.     51. 

REYNOLD'S  (Sir  J.)  Literary 
Works.  Edited  by  H.  W.  Beechy. 
2  vols.     3J.  6f/.  each. 

RICARDO  on  the  Principles  of 
Poliiical  Economy  and  Taxa- 
tion. Edited  by  E.  C.  K.  Conner, 
M.A.     5J. 

RICHTER  (Jean  Paul  Priedrich). 
Levana,  a  Treatise  on  Education: 
together  with  the  Autiobiography 
(a  Fragment),  and  a  short  Pre- 
fatory Memoir.     3^.  6d. 

Flower,   Fruit,   and   Thorn 

Pieces,  or  the  Wedded  Life.Death, 
and  Marriage  of  Firmian  Stanis- 
laus Siebenkaes,  Parish  Advocate 
in  the  Parish  of  Kuhschnapp)el. 
Newly  translated  by  Ll.  -Coi.  Alex. 
Ewing.     3J.  6d. 

ROGER  DE  HOVEDEN'S  An- 
nals of  English  History,  com- 
prising the  Mistory  of  England 
and  of  other  Countries  of  Europe 
from  A.  D.  732  to  A.  D.  1201. 
Translated  by  H.  T.  Riley,  M.A. 
2  vols.     5j-.  each. 

ROGER  OF  WENDOVER'S 
Flowers  of  History,  comprising 
the  History  of  England  from  the 
Descent  of  the  Saxons  to  a.d. 
1 235 ,  formerly  ascribed  to  Matthew 
Paris.  Translated  by  J.  A.  Giles, 
D.C.L.     2  vols.     55.  each. 


Contained  in  Bohn's  Libraries. 


21 


\ 


i. 


ROME  in  the  NINETEENTH 
CENTURY.  Containing  a  com- 
plete Account  of  the  Ruins  of  the 
Ancient  City,  the  Remains  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  the  Monuments 
of  Modern  Times.  By  C.  A.  Eaton. 
With  34  Steel  Engravings.  2  vols. 
5 J.  each. 

See  Burn  and  Dyer. 

ROSCOE'S  (W.)  Life  and  Ponti- 
ficate of  Leo  X.  Final  edition, 
revised  by  Thomas  Roscoe.  2 
vols.     3J.  6i/.  each. 

Life  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici, 


called  *  the  Magnificent.'  With 
his  poems,  letters,  <fec.  loth 
Edition,  revised,  with  Memoir  of 
Roscoe  by  his  Son.     3^.  dd. 

RUSSIA.  History  of,  from  the 
earliest  Period,  compiled  from 
the  most  authentic  sources  by 
Walter  K.  Kelly.  With  Portraits. 
2  vols,     y  6d.  each. 

SALLUST,  FLORUS,  and  VEL- 
LEIUS  PATERCULUS. 
Translated  by  J.  S.Watson,  M.A. 

SCHILLER'S  Works.  Translated 
by  various  hands.  7  vols.  3J.  ^d. 
each : — 

I. — History  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War. 

II. — History  of  the  Revolt  in  the 
Netherlands,  the  Trials  of 
Counts  Egmont  and  Horn, 
the  Siege  of  Antwerp,  and 
the  Disturbances  in  France 
preceding  the  Reign  of 
Henry  IV. 

III. — Don  Carlos,  Mary  Stuart, 
Maid  of  Orleans,  Bride  of 
Messina,  together  with  the 
Use  of  the  Chorus  in 
Tragedy  (a  short  Essay). 

These   Dramas   are  all 
translated  in  metre. 


Schiller's  Works  continued. 

IV.— Robbers  ( with  Schiller's 
original  Preface),  Fiesco, 
Love  and  Intrigue,  De- 
metrius, Ghost  Seer,  Sport 
of  Divinity. 

The  Dramas  in  this 
volume  are  translated  into 
Prose. 

V. — Poems. 

VI. — Essays,  ^sthetical  and  Philo- 
sophical. 

VII.— Wallenstein's  Camp,  Pic- 
colomini  and  Death  of 
Wallenstein,  William  Tell. 

SCHILLER  and  GOETHE. 
Correspondence  between,  from 
A.D.  1794- 1805.  Translated  by 
L.  Dora  Schmitz.  2  vols.  3^.  6d. 
each. 

SCHLEGEL'S  (F.)  Lectures  on 
the  Philosophy  of  Life  and  the 
Philosophy  of  Language.  Trans- 
lated by  the  Rev.  A.  J.  W.  Mor- 
rison, M.A.     31.  6d. 

Lectures  on  the  History  of 


Literature,  Ancient  and  Modern. 
Translated  from  the  German.  3^.6^/. 

—  Lectures  on  the  Philosophy 


of  History.     Translated  by  J.  B. 
Robertson.     31.  6d. 


—  Lectures  on  Modern  History, 
together  with  the  Lectures  entitled 
Caesar  and  Alexander,  and  The 
Beginning  of  our  History.  Trans- 
lated by  L.  Purcell  and  R.  H. 
Whitetock.     3^.  6d. 


iEsthetic  and  Miscellsuieous 

Works.      Translated    by   E.    J. 
Millington.     t,s.  6d. 

SCHLEGEL  (A.  W  )  Lectures 
on  Dramatic  Art  aiidLiterattnre. 
Translated  by  J.  Black.  Revised 
Edition,  by  the  Rev.  A.  J.  W. 
Morrison,  M.A.     3^.  (>d. 


22 


An  Alphabetical  List  of  Books 


SCHOPENHAUER  on  the  Four- 
fold Root  of  the  Principle  of 
Sufficient  Reason,  and  On  the 
Will  in  Nature.  Translated  by 
Madame  Hillebrand.     $s. 

Essays.     Selected  and  Trans- 


lated. With  a  Biographical  Intro- 
duction and  Sketch  of  his  Philo- 
sophy, by  E.  Belfort  Bax.     5^. 

SCHOUW'S  Earth,  Plants,  and 
Man.  Translated  by  A.  Henfrey. 
With  coloured  Map  of  the  Geo- 
graphy of  Plants.     55. 

SCHUMANN  (Robert).  His  Life 
and  Works,  by  August  Reissmann. 
Translated  by  A.  L.  Alger,   p.  6d. 

EarlyLetters.  Originally pub- 


blished  by  his  Wife.  Translated 
by  May  Herbert.  With  a  Preface 
by  Sir  George  Grove,  D.CL. 
3j.  6d. 

SENECA  on  Benefits.  Newly 
translated  by  A.  Stewart,  M.A. 
y.  6d. 

Minor  Essa>  s  and  On  Clem- 
ency. Translated  by  A.  Stewart, 
M.A.     Ss, 

SHAKESPEARE'S  Dramatic 
Art.  The  History  and  Character 
of  Shakespeare's  Plays.  By  Dr. 
Hermann  Ulrici.  Translated  by 
L.  Dora  Schmitz.  2  vols.  y.  6d. 
each. 

SHAKESPEARE  (William).  A 
Literary  Biography  by  Karl  Elze, 
Ph.D.,  LL.D.  Translated  by 
L.  Dora  Schmitz.     ^s. 

SHARPE  (S.)  The  History  of 
Egypt,  from  the  Earliest  Times 
till  the  Conquest  by  the  Arabs, 
A.D.  640.  By  Samuel  Sharpe, 
2  Maps  and  upwards  of  400  Illus- 
trative Woodcuts.  2  vols.  $s.  each. 

SHERIDAN'S  DramaUc  Works, 
Complete.  With  Life  by  G.  G.  S. 
35.  6t/. 


SISMONDI'S  History  of  the 
Literature  of  the  South  ot 
Europe.  Translated  by  Thomas 
Roscoe.     2  vols.     3^.  6d.  each. 

SIX  OLD  ENGLISH  CHRON- 
ICLES: viz.,  Asser's  Life  of 
Alfred  and  theChroniclesof 
Ethelwerd,  Gildas,Nennius, 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  and 
Richard  of  Cirencester. 
Edited  by  J.  A.  Giles,  D.CL.    5^. 

SYNONYMS  and  ANTONYMS, 
or  Kindred  Words  and  their 
Opposites,  Collected  and  Con- 
trasted by  Ven.  C.J.  Smith,  M.A. 
Revised  Edition.     5^. 

SMITH'S  (Adam)  The  Wealth  of 
Nations.  Edited  by  E.  Belfort 
Bax.     2  vols.     3^.  6d,  each. 

Theory  of  Moral  Sentiments ; 


with  his  Essay  on  the  First  For- 
mation of  Languages ;  to  which  is 
added  a  Memoir  of  the  Author  by 
Dugald  Stewart.     35.  6d. 

SMYTH'S  (Professor)  Lectures 
on  Modern  History;  from  the 
Irruption  of  the  Northern  Nations 
to  the  close  of  the  American  Re- 
volution.    2  vols.     3^.  6d.  each. 

Lectures  on  the  French  Re- 


volution.    2  vols.     3J.  6d.  each. 

SMITH'S  (  Pye )  Geology  and 
Scripture.     2nd  Edition.     5^. 

SMOLLETT'S  Adventures  oi 
Roderick  Random.  With  short 
Memoir  and  Bibliography,  and 
Cruikshank's  Illustrations.    3^.  6d. 

Adventures  of  Peregrine 

Pickle,  in  which  are  included  the 
Memoirs  of  a  Lady  of  Quality. 
With  Bibliography  and  Cruik- 
shank's Illustrations.  2  vols.  3^.6^. 
each. 


Contained  in  Bohtis  Libraries. 


23 


\ 


SMOLLETT'S  The  Expedition 
of  Humphry  Clinker.  With 
Bibliography  and  Cruikshank's 
Illustrations.     3^.  6a'. 

SOCRATES  (sumamed  'Scholas- 
ticus ').  The  Ecclesiastical  His- 
tory of  (a.  d.  305-445).  Translated 
from  the  Greek.     5^. 

SOPHOCLES,  The  Tragedies  of. 
A  New  Prose  Translation,  with 
Memoir,  Notes,  &c.,  by  E.  P. 
Coleridge.     5^. 

The  Oxford  Translation.    51. 

SOUTH  EY'S  Life  of  Nelson. 
With  Facsimiles  of  Nelson's  writ- 
ing, Portraits,  Plans,  and  upwards 
of  50  Engravings  on  Steel  and 
Wood.     5  J. 


—  Life  of  Wesley,  and  the  Rise 
and  Progress  of  Methodism.     51. 


Robert  Southey.     The  Story 

of  his  Life  written  in  his  Letters. 
With  an  Introduction.  Edited  by 
John  Dennis.     35.  dd. 

SOZOMEN'S  Ecclesiastical  His- 
tory. Comprising  a  History  of 
the  Church  from  A.D.  324-440. 
Translated  from  the  Greek.  To- 
gether with  the  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  Philostorgius,  as 
epitomised  by  Photius.  Trans- 
lated from  the  Greek  by  Rev.  E. 
Walford,  M.A.     5^. 

SPINOZA'S  Chief  Works.  Trans- 
lated, with  Introduction,byR.H.M. 
Elwes.    2  vols.    5^.  each. 

STANLEY'S  Classified  Synopsis 
of  the  Principal  Painters  of  the 
Dutch  and  Flemish  Schools. 
By  George  Stanley.     55. 

STARLING'S  (Miss)  Noble  Deeds 
of  Women ;  or,  Examples  of 
Female  Courage,  Fortitude,  and 
Virtue.  With  14  Steel  Engrav- 
ings.    5^. 


S  T  A  U  N  T  O  N'S  Chess  -  Plajrer's 
Handbook.  A  Popular  and  Scien- 
tific Introduction  to  the  Game. 
With  numerous  Diagrams.     5^. 


—  Chess  Praxis.  A  Supplement 
to  the  Chess-player's  Handbook. 
Containing  the  most  important 
modern  improvements  in  the  Open- 
ings ;  Code  of  Chess  Laws ;  and 
a  Selection  of  Morphy's  Games. 
Annotated.     55. 

—  Chess-player's   Companion. 


Comprising  a  Treatise  on  Odds, 
Collection  of  Match  Games,  and  a 
Selection  of  Original  Problems.  5j. 

—  Chess  Tournament  of  1851. 


A  Collection  of  Games  played  at 
this  celebrated  assemblage.  With 
Introduction  and  Notes.     5^-. 

STOCKHARDT'S  Experimental 
Chemistry.  A  Handbook  for  the 
Study  of  the  Science  by  simple 
experiments.  Edited  by  C.  W. 
Heaton,  F.C.S.  With  numerous 
Woodcuts.  New  Edition,  revised 
throughout,     ^s. 

STRABO'S  Geography.  Trans- 
lated by  W.  Falconer,  M.A., 
and  H.  C.  Hamilton.  3  vols. 
5^.  each. 

STRICKLAND'S  (Agnes)  Lives 
of  the  Queens  of  England,  from 
the  Norman  Conquest.  Revised 
Edition.  With  6  Portraits.  6  vols. 
55-.  each. 

Life  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 

2  vols.     5^*  fi^-ch. 

Lives  of  the  Tudor  and  Stuart 

Princesses.    With  Portraits.     55. 

STUART  and  REVETT'S  Anti- 
quities of  Athens,  and  other 
Monuments  of  Greece;  to  which 
is  added,  a  Glossary  of  Terms  used 
in  Grecian  Architecture.  With  71 
Plates  engraved  on  Steel,  and 
numerous  Woodcut  Capitals.    5j. 


24 


An  Alphabetical  List  of  Books 


SUETONIUS'  Lives  of  the  Twelve 
CsBsars  and  Lives  of  the  Gram- 
marlans.  The  translation  of 
Thomson,  revised  by  T.  Forester. 

SULLY.  Memoirs  of  the  Duke 
of.  Prime  Minister  to  Henry 
the  Great.  Translated  from  the 
French.  With  4  Portraits.  4  vols. 
3i.  6d.  each. 

SWIFT'S  Prose  Works.  Edited 
by  Temple  Scott.  With  a  Bio- 
graphical Introduction  by  the  Right 
Hon.  W.  E.  H.  Lecky,  M.P. 
With  Portraits  and  Facsimiles. 
1 1  vols.     3^.  6d.  each. 

[Vols,  I.-IV.  &>  VIIL  ready, 
I. — Edited  by  Temple  Scott. 
With  a  Biographical  In- 
troduction by  the  Right 
Hon.  W.  E.  H.  Lecky, 
M.  P.  Containing  :  —  A 
Tale  of  a  Tub,  The  Battle 
of  the  Books,  and  other 
early  works. 

II.— Thejournal to  Stella.  Edited 

by  Frederick  Ryland,M.  A. 

With  2  Portraits  of  Stella, 

and  a  Facsimile  of  one  of 

the  Letters. 
III.&  IV. — Writings  on  Religion  and 

the   Church.      Edited  by 

Temple  Scott. 
V. — Historical    and    Political 

Tracts  (English).     Edited 

by  Temple  Scott 
VII I. — Gulliver's  Travels.      Edited 

by  G.   R.  Dennis.     With 

Portrait  and  Maps. 

The  order  and   contents  of 
the  remaining  volumes  will 
probably  be  as  follows  : — 
VI. &VII.— Historical  and  PoUtical 
Tracts  (Irish). 
IX. — Contributions    to   the   *  Ex- 
aminer,' 'Tatler,*   'Spec- 
tator,' &c. 
X. — Historical  Writings. 
XI. — Literary  Essays  and  Biblio- 
graphy. 


STOWE  (Mrs.  H.  B.)  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,  or  Life  among  the  Lowly. 
With  Introductory  Remarks  by 
Rev.  J.  Sherman.  With  8  full- 
page  Illustrations.     3^.  6rf. 

TACITUS.  The  Works  of.  Liter- 
ally  translated.     2  vols.     ^s.  each. 

TALES  OF  THE  GENII;  or, the 
Delightful  Lessons  of  Horam,  the 
Son  of  Asmar.  Translated  from 
the  Persian  by  Sir  Charles  Morell. 
Numerous  Woodcuts  and  12  Steel 
Engravings.     5^. 

TASSO'S  Jerusalem  Delivered. 
Translated  into  English  Spenserian 
Verse  by  J.  H.  Wiflfen.  With  8 
Engravings  on  Steel  and  24  Wood- 
cuts by  Thurston.     53-. 

TAYLOR'S  (Bishop  Jeremy) 
Holy  Living  and  Dying,  with 
Prayers  containing  the  Whole  Duty 
of  a  Christian  and  the  parts  of  De- 
votion fitted  to  all  Occasions  and 
furnished  for  all  Necessities.  35.  (xi. 

TEN  BRINK.— 5^«  Brink. 

TERENCE  and  PH-ffiJDRUS. 
Literally  translated  by  H.  T.  Riley, 
M.A.  Towhichis  added,  Smart's 
MetricalVersion  of  Ph^drus. 

THEOCRITUS.  BION,  MOS- 
CHUS,andTYRTiEUS.  Liter- 
ally  translated  by  the  Rev.  J. 
Banks,  M.A.  To  which  are  ap- 
pended the  Metrical  Versions  of 
Chapman.     5.V. 

THEODORET  and  EVAGRIUS. 
Histories  of  the  Church  from  a.d. 
332  to  A.D.  427  ;  and  from  a.d. 
431  to  A.D.  544.  Translated  from 
the  Greek.     5^. 

THIERRY'S  History  of  the 
Conquest  of  England  by  the 
Normans;  its  Causes,  and  its 
Consequences  in  England,  Scot- 
land, Ireland,  and  the  Continent. 
Translated  by  William  Hazlitt. 
2  vols.     3J.  6rt'.  each. 


Contained  in  Bohn^s  Libraries. 


25 


i 


i 


THUCYDIDES.  The  Pelopon- 
nesian  War.  Literally  translated 
by  the  Rev.  H.  Dale.  2  vols. 
3J-.  dd.  each. 

. An  Analysis  and  Summary 

of.     With  Chronological  Table  of 
Events,  &c.    By  J.  T.  Wheeler. 

THUDICHUM  (J.  L.  W.)  A  Trea- 
tise on  Wines:  their  Origin, 
Nature,  and  Varieties.  With  Prac- 
tical Directions  for  Viticulture  and 
Vinification.  By  J.  L.  W.  Thudi- 
chum,  M.D.,  F.R.C.P.  (Lond.). 
Illustrated.     5^. 

URE'S  (Dr.  A.)  Cotton  Manufac- 
ture of  Great  Britain,  systemati- 
cally investigated.  Revised  Edit, 
by  P.  L.  Simmonds.  With  150 
original  Illustrations.  2  vols.  5 J. 
each. 

Philosophy  of  Manufactures. 

Revised  Edition,  by  P.  L.  Sim- 
monds. With  numerous  Figures. 
Double  volume.     Ts.  6d. 

VASARI'S  Lives  of  the  most 
Eminent  Painters,  Sculptors, 
and  Architects,  Translated  by 
Mrs.  J.  Foster,  with  a  Commen- 
tary by  J.  P.  Richter,  Ph.D.  6 
vols.     3 J.  dd,  each. 

VIRGIL.  A  Literal  Prose  Trans- 
lation by  A.  Hamilton  Bryce, 
LL.D.,  F.R.S.E.  With  Portrait. 
35-.  6d. 

VOLTAIRE'S  Tales.  Translated 
by  R.  B.  Boswell.  Vol.  L,  con- 
taining Bebouc,  Memnon,  Can- 
dide,  L'lng^nu,  and  other  Tales. 
3^.  6d. 

WALTON'S  Complete  Angler, 
or  the  Contemplative  Man's  Re- 
creation, by  Izaak  Walton  and 
Charles  Cotton.  Edited  by  Ed- 
ward Jesse.  To  which  is  added 
an  account  of  Fishing  Stations, 


Tackle,  &c.,  by  Henry  G.  Bohn. 
With  Portrait  and  203  Engravings 
on  Wood  and  26  Engravings  on 
Steel.     5^^. 

Lives  of  Donne,  Hooker,  &c. 


New  Edition  revised  by  A.  H. 
Bullen,  with  a  Memoir  of  Izaak 
Walton  by  Wm.  Dowling.  With 
numerous  Illustrations.     5^. 

WELLINGTON,  Life  of.  By*  An 
Old  Soldier.'  From  the  materials 
of  Maxwell.  With  Index  and  18 
Steel  Engravings,      ^s. 

Victories  of.    See  Maxwell. 


WERNER'S  Templars  in 
Cyprus.  Translated  by  E.  A.  M. 
Lewis.    3^.  6d. 

WESTROPP  (H.  M.)  A  Hand- 
book of  ArchaBology,  Egyptian, 
Greek,  Etruscan,  Roman.  By 
H.  M.  Westropp.  2nd  Edition, 
revised.  With  very  numerous 
Illustrations.     51. 

WHITE'S  Natiu^l  History  of 
Selbome,  with  Observations  on 
various  Parts  of  Nature,  and  the 
Naturalists'  Calendar.  With  Notes 
by  Sir  William  Jardine.  Edited 
by  Edward  Jesse.  With  40  Por- 
traits and  coloured  Plates.     $5. 

WHEATLEY'S  A  Rational  Ulus- 
tration  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.    3^.  6d. 

WHEELER'S  Noted  Names  of 
Fiction,  Dictionary  of.  Includ- 
ing also  Familiar  Pseudonyms, 
Surnames  bestowed  on  Eminent 
Men,  and  Analogous  Popular  Ap- 
pellations often  referred  to  in 
Literature  and  Conversation.  By 
W.  A.  Wheeler,  M.A.     5^. 

WIESELER'S  Chronological 
Synopsis  of  the  Four  Gospels. 
Translated  by  the  Rev.  Canon 
VenaWes.     31.  td. 


26        Alphabetical  List  of  Books  in  Bohn's  Libraries, 


WILLIAM  of  MALMESBURY'S 
Chronicle  of  the  Kings  of  Eng- 
land, from  the  Earliest  Period 
to  the  Reign  of  King  Stephen. 
Translated  by  the  Rev.  J.  Sharpe. 
Edited  by  J.  A.  Giles,  D.C.L.    ^s. 

XENOPHON'S  Works.  Trans- 
lated by  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Watson, 
M.A.,  and  the  Rev.  H.  Dale.  In 
3  vols.     5j.  each. 

YOUNG  (Arthur).  Travels  In 
Prance  during  the  years  1787, 
1788.  and  1789.  Edited  by 
M.  Betham  Edwards.     3^.  dd. 


YOUNG  (Arthur).  Tour  in  Ire- 
land, with  (ieneral  Observations 
on  the  state  of  the  country  during 
the  years  1776-79.  Edited  by 
A.  W.  Hutton.  With  Complete 
Bibliography  by  J.  P.  Ander- 
son, and  Map.  2  vols.  y.  6d. 
each. 

YULE-TIDE  STORIES.    A  Col- 
lection of  Scandinavian  and  North- 
German  Popular  Tales  and  Tra- 
ditions, from  the  Swedish,  Danish 
and  German.  Edited  by  B.Thorpe. 


(         27         ) 


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NEW   AND    FORTHCOMING    VOLUMES    OF 

BONN'S  LIBRARIES. 


THE  PROSE  WORKS  OF  JONATHAN  SWIFT.  Edited  by 
Temple  Scott.  With  an  Introduction  by  the  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  H. 
Lecky,  M.P.     In  11  volumes,  3^.  6d.  each. 

Vol  I  — *  A  Tale  of  a  Tub,'  *  The  Battle  of  the  Books,'  and  other 
early  works.  Edited  by  Temple  Scott.  With  Introduction  by  the 
Right  Hon.  W.  E.  H.  Lecky,  M.P.     Portrait  and  Facsimdes. 

Vol.  II.— *  The  Journal  to  Stella.'  Edited  by  F.  Ryland,  M.A. 
With  a  Facsimile  Letter  and  two  Portraits  of  Stella. 

Vols  HL  and  IV.— Writings  on  Religion  and  the  Church. 
Edited  by  Temple  Scott.     With  portraits  and  facsimiles  of  title  pages. 

Vol.  V. -Historical  and  Political  Tracts  (English).  Edited  by 
Temple  Scott.     With  Portrait  and  Facsimiles.  [/«  the  Press. 

Vol.  VIII.— Gulliver's  Travels.  Edited  by  G.  R.  Dennis.  With 
the  original  Maps  and  Illustrations. 

CARLYLE'S    SARTOR    RESARTUS.    With  75  Illustrations.    By 

Edmund  J.  Sullivan.     5^. 

HAMPTON  COURT:  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  MANOR 
AND   PALACE.     By  Ernest  Law,  B.A.    Illustrated.     5^. 

GRAY'S  LETTERS.  Edited  by  Duncan  C  Tovey,  M.A.,  Editor  of 
'Gray  and  his  Friends,'  &c.,  late  Clark  Lecturer  at  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge.     Vol.  I.     3^.  6d. 

CICERO'S  LETTERS.  The  whole  extant  Correspondence.  Trans- 
lated by  Evelyn  S.  Shuckburgh,  M.A.     In  4  vols.     5^.  each. 

THE    ROMAN    HISTORY    OF    APPIAN    OF    ALEXANDRIA. 

Translated  by  Horace  White,  M.A.,  LL.D.     With  Maps  and  Illus- 
trations.    2  vols.     6s.  each. 

GASPARY'S  HISTORY  OF  ITALIAN  LITERATURE.  Trans- 
lated  by  Hermann  Oelsner,  M.A.,  Ph.D.     Vol.  I. 

LELAND'S  ITINERARY.  Edited  by  Laurence  Gomme,  F.S.A.  In 
several  volumes.  [Prepanng. 


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College,  Oxford. 

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(         29         ) 
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Campbell.  Edited  by  His  Son- 
in-law,  the  Rev.  A.  W.  Hill.  With 
Memoir  by  W.  Allingham. 

Chatterton.    Edited  by  the  Bev. 

W.  W.   Skeat,  M.A.     2  vols. 

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